Survivor

If you’re not familiar with SyberJet, that’s understandable. There is a long and winding history from the original founder of the company—legendary aerospace designer Ed Swearingen—to today’s SyberJet business.

Swearingen, a master at designing efficient, speedy aircraft, formed a company in 1984 to manufacture his twenty-ninth design—the SX-300 kitplane; a two-seater with a 300-horsepower Lycoming IO-540 engine, a 900-nautical-mile range, and a 240-knot cruise speed. Eighty kits were sold between 1984 and 1989.

Swearingen’s thirtieth and final design, the SJ30, was a six-seat business jet with a 32-degree wing sweep angle that enabled a cruise speed of Mach 0.83 at altitudes up to 49,000 feet. The aircraft was highly capable, but development and certification proved time-consuming and costly, and the SJ30 shuffled between multiple owners, landing with MSC Aerospace in 2023. As AOPA reported at the time, MSC renamed the airplane the SyberJet and began development of numerous upgrades—including a new avionics package named SyberVision—with the intent of putting the SJ30 back into production. To date, only 10 SyberJet SJ30s have been built, all between 2006 and 2009.

In 2024, SyberJet was acquired by a new investment group. One of the investors is Milton, the founder of Nikola Corp., which developed the first hydrogen electric semitruck. In 2022, Milton was convicted of securities and wire fraud on charges of misleading investors about the company’s technology and sentenced to four years in prison. Milton insisted the conviction was part of a U.S. Department of Justice conspiracy, and was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025.

Now out of production for 17 years, SyberJet promises to produce several improved versions of the SJ30. During an elaborate livestreamed event, replete with four-string quartet, marching band, a dazzling light show, impressive imagery, hundreds of attendees, and the song Survivor, Milton unveiled a full-size nonflying mockup of the SJ36.

Milton acknowledged his previous conviction and pardon, and the fact that no SyberJet has been produced for some time. “We all have questions,” he said, “whether or not this is real, is this going to come to market. And those are legitimate, real questions everyone should have. And they’re things I have to fight every day of my life to be able to overcome. It fuels my fire, it fuels our company’s fire, as well.”

Milton praised Swearingen’s design work on the SJ30, recognizing he is the reason the jet has such impressive performance—which is carried over to the SJ36. The SJ36 is a nine-seat single-pilot jet intended to bridge the light jet and midsize jet markets. It’s designed to fly more than 3,000 nm nonstop, reach speeds of Mach 0.88, maintain sea-level cabin pressure up to 41,000 feet, and climb to 49,000 feet.

The SJ36 features SyberVision, a fully integrated avionics suite designed and built by SyberJet. The system features six 4K touch-screen displays, over-the-air updates, SyberPilot (flight assisted by artificial intelligence), smarter taxi, and SyberVision Charts. The system will let pilots connect directly to the aircraft, upload flight plans and control cabin temperature remotely, and allow SyberJet to perform remote maintenance.

SJ36 deliveries are expected to begin in 2032. Pricing starts at $14 million for the first 250 reservations, thereafter increasing to $16 million.

Milton also announced the SJ34 will replace the FAA-certified SJ30-2. It will be a seven-seat single-pilot jet, upgraded with SyberVision avionics, larger Williams engines delivering between 5,000 and 6,400 pounds of thrust in total, and an all-new interior to match the SJ36. The SJ34 is expected to cruise at up to Mach 0.83, have a range of up to 2,500 nm, be able to maintain sea-level cabin pressure up to 41,000 feet, and climb to 49,000 feet. The larger engines improve takeoff and high-and-hot performance. SJ34 deliveries are expected to begin in 2029, with pricing at launch set at $10 million, increasing to $12 million after the first 250 reservations.

“Aviation has not seen a real disruption in a long time. We didn’t just show up at NBAA; we showed up having broken the world speed record for light jets by a whopping 48%,” said Milton, referring to the SJ30’s recent unofficial transcontinental east-to-west speed record (which is pending National Aeronautic Association and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale certification). “There is simply no jet like the SyberJet.”