{"id":5806,"date":"2013-12-28T17:26:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-28T17:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markdjacobsen.com\/?post_type=portfolio&#038;p=5806"},"modified":"2021-03-06T00:06:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T00:06:44","slug":"uplift-aeronautics","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/markdjacobsen.com\/portfolio\/uplift-aeronautics\/","title":{"rendered":"Uplift Aeronautics"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-themepunch-revslider revslider\" data-modal=\"false\" data-slidertitle=\"Uplift Slider 2\">\n\t\t\t<!-- START Uplift Slider 2 REVOLUTION SLIDER 6.6.20 --><p class=\"rs-p-wp-fix\"><\/p>\n\t\t\t<rs-module-wrap id=\"rev_slider_3_1_wrapper\" data-source=\"gallery\" style=\"visibility:hidden;background:transparent;padding:0;margin:0px auto;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;\">\n\t\t\t\t<rs-module id=\"rev_slider_3_1\" style=\"\" data-version=\"6.6.20\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<rs-slides style=\"overflow: hidden; position: absolute;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<rs-slide style=\"position: absolute;\" data-key=\"rs-5\" data-title=\"Slide\" data-anim=\"ms:1000;r:0;\" data-in=\"o:0;\" data-out=\"a:false;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/markdjacobsen.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/revslider\/public\/assets\/assets\/dummy.png\" alt=\"Slide\" title=\"Uplift Aeronautics\" class=\"rev-slidebg tp-rs-img rs-lazyload\" data-lazyload=\"\/\/markdjacobsen.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/revslider\/public\/assets\/assets\/transparent.png\" data-no-retina data-recalc-dims=\"1\">\n<!--\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t--><rs-layer\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tid=\"slider-3-slide-5-layer-2\" \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"rs-layer-video intrinsic-ignore\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-type=\"video\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-rsp_ch=\"on\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-xy=\"y:-35px;\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-text=\"w:normal;\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dim=\"w:1238px;h:696px;\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-video=\"vfc:true;vd:100;l:true;ptimer:false;nse:f;\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-mp4=\"\/\/markdjacobsen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/uplift-bg2.mp4\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-frame_999=\"o:0;st:w;\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"z-index:5;\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/rs-layer><!--\n-->\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/rs-slide>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/rs-slides>\n\t\t\t\t<\/rs-module>\n\t\t\t\t<script>\n\t\t\t\t\tsetREVStartSize({c: 'rev_slider_3_1',rl:[1240,1024,778,480],el:[400],gw:[1240],gh:[400],type:'hero',justify:'',layout:'fullwidth',mh:\"0\"});if (window.RS_MODULES!==undefined && window.RS_MODULES.modules!==undefined && window.RS_MODULES.modules[\"revslider31\"]!==undefined) {window.RS_MODULES.modules[\"revslider31\"].once = false;window.revapi3 = undefined;if (window.RS_MODULES.checkMinimal!==undefined) window.RS_MODULES.checkMinimal()}\n\t\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\t<\/rs-module-wrap>\n\t\t\t<!-- END REVOLUTION SLIDER -->\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">As a USAF C-17 pilot, I was entrusted to deliver cargo into the heart of war zones. I am also an Arabic-speaking Middle East specialist, and in March 2014 I was doing research among Syrian refugees in eastern Turkey. At the time the Syrian government was\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.unrwa.org\/crisis-in-yarmouk\">besieging entire neighborhoods<\/a> to break their will. Children were starving, snipers were allegedly shooting teenagers foraging for weeds, and clerics had given besieged civilians permission to eat cats and dogs.<\/p>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\r\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph -->Syrians asked me why the US could not simply airdrop aid. Political challenges aside, the truth is that we cannot usually fly\u00a0big cargo aircraft\u00a0such as the C-17 into hostile airspace without kinetic operations to destroy air defenses like radars, surface-to-air missiles, and anti-aircraft guns. This became apparent a few months later, when the US launched its first air strikes against ISIS to facilitate airdrops to the Yazidi population trapped on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/us-expands-airstrikes-against-islamic-state-militants-in-northern-iraq\/2014\/08\/09\/1014c018-1fb7-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html?tid=a_inl\">Mt. Sinjar<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\r\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph -->The sieges haunted me. Surely in the 21<sup>st\u00a0<\/sup>century there was a way to fight back against those who used starvation and medical deprivation as weapons. It occurred to me that advances in drone technology might open up a\u00a0new paradigm: using large numbers of small drones to slip past air defense systems and deliver small packets of cargo.<\/p>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\r\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph -->I assembled a team, and we spent the next year and a half trying to make that vision a reality. We called it the Syria Airlift Project, and incorporated under a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called Uplift Aeronautics.<\/p>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\r\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph -->Ultimately, we failed\u2014at least this time around. I still\u00a0believe the swarming airlift concept is sound, but our team was ahead of its time.\u00a0Drone technology was in its toddler years, and soaring expectations gave way to a truth that experienced drone developers often recite:\u00a0<em>drones are hard.\u00a0<\/em>According to the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gartner.com\/technology\/research\/methodologies\/hype-cycle.jsp\">Gartner Research<\/a>\u00a0\u201chype cycle\u201d, this is normal for any new technology. The good news is that hype and disillusionment eventually yield to a new stage: a steady climb up the slope of enlightenment. This is where a new technology shows its true value.<\/p>\r\n<p>Founding and leading Uplift Aeronautics&#8211;and presiding over the eventual failure&#8211;was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. It taught me what Ben Horowitz says is the most difficult CEO skill: <a href=\"https:\/\/a16z.com\/2011\/03\/31\/whats-the-most-difficult-ceo-skill-managing-your-own-psychology\/\">managing your own psychology<\/a>. It also gave me the experience, confidence, and drive to build teams to tackle extraordinarily hard projects. These lessons would prove invaluable when I cofounded <a href=\"http:\/\/markdjacobsen.com\/index.php\/rogue-squadron\/\">Rogue Squadron<\/a> at the Defense Innovation Unit.<\/p>\r\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Syria Airlift Project\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1N6c2xABQnU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\r\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Syria: Drones to SAVE lives - BBC News\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w8KPh9106CU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:embed --><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A non-profit corporation built to design solutions for breaking sieges and delivering humanitarian aid in conflict zones. (2013)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5315,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"portfolio_categories":[100],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Uplift Aeronautics - Mark D. Jacobsen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Uplift Aeronautics was a non-profit corporation built to design solutions for breaking sieges and delivering humanitarian aid in conflict zones.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/markdjacobsen.com\/portfolio\/uplift-aeronautics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uplift Aeronautics - Mark D. 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