I love the Transformers; but not the terrible, loud, and innuendo-laced Micheal Bay version. I’m talking old school 80′s toys made popular by the Transformers cartoon. Those guys were awesome, though I was always disappointed when the Decepticons were defeated, not because the Autobots were better, but because Megatron was an inept leader at best.
Someone in the military must be a fan of Transformers too. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has revealed plans for an all-terrain wheeled vehicle that can transform into an airplane and go as far as 250 miles on a tank of gas. Awesome.
The military has a history of hair-brained defense schemes, but this sounds like one that might actually make it to production one day. The design calls for a VTOL, or Vertical Take Off and Landing vehicle, sort of like the Osprey pictured to the left. It would also be about the size of two Hummers parked bumper-to-bumper with a price limitation of $43 million. So far, so good, right?
While the 250 mile range may not seem like a lot, consider we’re talking about military equipment. Military equipment is, well, heavy. As adding jump jets, a VTOL system, armor, and weaponry — plus the wheeled vehicle component — is going to make this a very heavy vehicle that is supposed to be equally at home on land and in the air (up to 10,000 feet!). No specific word on armament, but a vehicle like this is sure to have at least a few cannons or machine guns. The designs call for a hybrid system, though what kind, it is hard to say (I’m thinking a diesel-electric makes the most sense). The vehicle would be capable of holding four fully-equipped soldiers, or at least one medic and a stretcher, or carrying at least 1,000 pounds of equipment. The project would also have to be able to pilot itself… you know, just in case Megatron starts some trouble. See how I tied that back in to the Transformers reference?
Sounds a bit fanciful, but not outside the realm of possibility. Let’s see what happens.
Source: Popular Science | Image: US Air Force
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About Christopher DeMorro
Could be interesting. Most of our tech advances have usually been through the military or NASA, for good or for ill. Maybe start with algae-based bio-jetfuel like the stuff coming out of Australia. Thin-film solar panels on the entire body. Perhaps some king of intake manifolds located behind the propellors (if it has propellors) or along the sides that would direct incoming air to mini-turbines to generate electricity. Onboard fly wheel designs? Ramped-up direct injection?
Oh, hell. Let’s just bomb another third-world country and keep gas prices low.
Could be interesting. Most of our tech advances have usually been through the military or NASA, for good or for ill. Maybe start with algae-based bio-jetfuel like the stuff coming out of Australia. Thin-film solar panels on the entire body. Perhaps some king of intake manifolds located behind the propellors (if it has propellors) or along the sides that would direct incoming air to mini-turbines to generate electricity. Onboard fly wheel designs? Ramped-up direct injection?
Oh, hell. Let’s just bomb another third-world country and keep gas prices low.