Related Sections: Future Tech Military Vehicles
Pentagon getting into the flying car circus with Personal Air Vehicle Technology
Flying cars? We love 'em. As they get to be more real with Terrafugia and others gearing up their upcoming craft, the Pentagon and its research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), wants to get in on all the fun. Imagine how convenient a flying Humvee would be would you're protecting the world from evildoers.
The vehicle you see here is the first peek at "Personal Air Vehicle Technology." Considerably smaller than a Humvee — it's about the size of a small private plane — it won't be armed at first. The scout vehicle is said to go 60MPH on land and 150MPH in the air, flying for a couple of hours before it needs to refuel.
There's just a trickle of the Pentagon's nearly unlimited budget going toward the flying cars now, but that could ramp up fast. With all the secret "black ops" going on behind the Defense Department's closed doors, maybe DARPA has some exotic flying-saucer levitating tech to go into this thing. You never know.
DARPA, via Danger Room
By CoolProducts at 1:28 PM ON 11/14/08
I highly doubt we'll be seeing flying cars anytime soon.
By TheLobbyist at 2:18 PM ON 02/21/09
Those engineers at DARPA should really have to figure out a revolutionizing technique that combines the amphibious advantages of both jetfoil technology, VTOL (the Sea Harrier and also incorporated in the F-35 experimental Joint Strike Fighter) and take the hovercraft principle to a new level with somekind of 'repulsorlift' (frequently noted amongst fictitious SciFi harware). That would surely shift the edges of tactical manouvering on the field. Chew that, you neo-dictatorial evildoers ;-)
on your cellphone!
Text DVICE to 72434
editor@dvice.com
TheLobbyist:
Those engineers at DARPA should really have to figure out a revolutionizing technique that combines the amphibious ...More »