ASW Team

Our Company

Our Vision

ASW’s vision is a future where the usability, reliability and safety of small unmanned aircraft allow them to become a value-added part of everyday operations in existing industries and those yet to come.

Our Journey

Charles Neal

President and CEO

Charles is ASW's President and CEO. His work experience includes the US Air Force Research Laboratories, where he led rapid acquisition teams dedicated to proof-of-concept work for emerging SUAS technologies. This was followed by assignment to the Air Force Institute of Technology where he conducted sponsored research focused on advanced navigation algorithms for SUAS in deployed environments. Other work includes the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, where Charles led a 50+ member team as the test director for nuclear modernization efforts.

Charles accrued multiple AFRL unmanned flight certifications, including instructor ratings for fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and turbine SUAS. He earned his M.S. in Unmanned Systems Design from the Air Force Institute of Technology and his B.S. in Systems Engineering from the US Air Force Academy.

Daniel Neal

CTO

Daniel serves as our CTO. He has 5 years of technical experience in the aeronautical and defense industries. Work experience includes the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Propulsion Acquisition Division where he served as an Advanced Propulsion Systems Engineer for a $2B Gas Turbine Engine Design Program. Daniel then went on to work at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing where he served as the Flight Commander of the Anthropometry Laboratory. His experience includes conducting physical accommodation assessments of manned aircraft, rapid prototyping, 3-dimensional scanning and reverse engineering.

Daniel holds an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot certification. Daniel earned his Master's in Human Systems Integration from the Naval Postgraduate School and his B.S. in Systems Engineering Human Systems from the US Air Force Academy.

Ron Marconet

COO

Ron serves as our COO. He is experienced in product and portfolio strategy across the ecommerce, technology, consumer goods, and health care industries. He most recently held positions on the Strategy and Product teams of eBay and Amazon. He began his career as a management consultant specializing in product launch, where he designed consumer and B2B strategies that earned over $6 Bn in sales.

Ron holds an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot certification. He earned his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

ASW Core Team

Russell Shirey

Lead Software Engineer

Russell leads software engineering at ASW. He has 12 years of technical and program management experience in automotive, aeronautical, and defense industries. Russell is experienced with full stack development, with a focus on cloud computing and mobile app development. He previously worked on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Air Force air-to-air missile acquisition programs.

Russell earned his M.S. in Computer Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and his B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Dan Neal

Director of Training

Dan manages our customer training programs. In addition to his role at ASW, he teaches in the Aviation program at San Jose State University. He also works as a consultant to provide Human Factors Engineering services for DoD programs and NASA. His work experience includes developing engineering and management processes for Microsoft, BAE systems, and FMC Corporation.

Dan holds an FAA private pilot certificate with single and multi-engine land ratings, a mechanic certificate with Airframe and Powerplant ratings, and an Inspection Authorization. He is certified under Part 107 as a remote pilot. Dan earned his M.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California and his B.S. in Aeronautics from San Jose State University.

Anthony Mirabile

Research Software Engineer

Anthony is ASW's Research Software Engineer. He has 7 years of technical experience in both management and development. His work experience includes the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate where he worked on emerging technology integration on SUAS. He is experienced with electronic attack and countermeasures for GPS receivers. At the Air Force Research Laboratory, he led a $21M SUAS program to provide surveillance to conventional forces.

Anthony earned his M.S. in Electrical Engineering with a focus on Guidance Navigation and Control, from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Wilkes University.

Jeffrey Marconet

Business Manager

Jeff serves as ASW's Business Manager. He is a serial entrepreneur in the aviation industry. He has owned and operated businesses specializing in aircraft training, maintenance, and fleet management. He earned his B.S. in Business and Accounting.

Shakti Sunder

Growth Marketing Manager

Shakti manages our Digital Marketing Platform. He has 10+ years of experience in Product Management and Digital Marketing. At ASW, Shakti is responsible for Growth Marketing, Lead Generation and Brand Manager.

He is an FAA Certified Flight Instructor and a Commercial Pilot. In addition to this, he also holds a Transport Canada Commercial Pilot License. He earned his B.S in Information Technology from Mumbai University

Prabjot Dhillon

R&D Engineer

Prabjot is ASW's R&D Engineer. She has experience with communication systems and networking protocols. Prabjot is also a research assistant at San Jose State University (SJSU), working on collision avoidance in flying ad-hoc networks. She is working towards her M.S. in electrical engineering at SJSU.

Trevor Katzakian

UAS Composites Technician

Trevor serves as ASW's UAS Composites Technician and test pilot.

Trevor has experience building and flying remote control aircraft and holds an FAA Private Pilot certificate. He is working towards his B.S. in Aviation Operations at San Jose State University.

Our Journey

ASW was formed in 2015. Our founders are private flight school owners, collegiate aviation professors, human factors engineers, mechanical engineers, and unmanned systems engineers with UAS experience in both government and civilian sectors.

We got our start as a systems integrator for larger agencies facing the challenge of bringing together new aircraft, avionics, payloads, teams, and training to accomplish their missions.

After building an initial customer base, we often found ourselves faced with requests for drone capabilities that simply weren’t available on the market.

This began our shift towards manufacturing, sale, and support of the most industrial-grade drones in their class.

We now produce more than five UAS models at our California location and support long-term maintenance programs on all variants.

Our work also includes white-label drone production, design of custom systems, and engineering support for payloads and peripherals.

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