The US Army Is Working On A Real-Life Hoverbike

[eddo36 16]

 

IFLS - The US military, ever one to want to keep ahead of the competition, is apparently doing so by trying to build a hoverbike. The US Army announced that it was attempting to do so last year, and as reported by Popular Mechanics, they’re still giving it a go. In fact, they have been working on this since the 1950s.

 

Named the Tactical Reconnaissance Vehicle in 2015, their hypothetical one-man hoverbike was initially conceived to quickly bring supplies into the field. This year, it’s been renamed as the Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle (JTARV), and from the images provided, it looks somewhat like an extremely low-flying drone – a quadcopter you can ride.

 

“Anywhere on the battlefield, soldiers can potentially get resupplied in less than 30 minutes,†Tim Vong of the US Army Research Laboratory said in a statement. “We're working with users in the joint community to look at this concept.â€

 

At this point, it’s not clear how operational the JTARV is, or how far through its testing or even its construction phase it has got. Nevertheless, compared to some additional US military projects – including “vampire†drones that disappear in sunlight and human-computer neural interfaces – it seems highly likely that hoverbikes will become a staple US Army feature within the next decade or two.

 

 

After all, hoverboards of varying kinds already exist. One of them is even quite similarly designed to the Army’s concept hoverbike. It is piloted by leaning on it, as if it is an aerial Segway. Additionally, this stuntman-manufactured invention is capable of rising up to ludicrously dangerous heights, something JTARV may also be able to do if prior concept art is anything to go by.

 

As of 2015, scale models of the hoverbike – which is partly being designed by Malloy Aeronautics – was capable of some pretty cool maneuvers, but at this point, it’s more drone than human-driven bike of the future. Watch this space.

 

 

In any case, the question on everyone's minds by this point is whether or not the speederbike chase scene on the Forest Moon of Endor can be recreated in reality. At this point, it is not clear how possible this would be, although at least there wouldn’t be any pesky Ewoks getting in the way.

[veles-zv 176]

horrible Idea... really it is a novelty. the issues with Multicopters far outweighs the positives. for one you can not auto rotate with a mulitcopter, there blades do not care enough momentum and their disk area is so poor and inefficient, you would fall like a rock if something happened, 2nd all it takes for one motor to give up and you would be flung from your mulitcopter downwards at great speeds due to the imbalance of trust. i mean why would you need something like this anyway? for recon? a rc multicopter works much better while being general smaller and allows it to be quieter.  

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

horrible Idea... really it is a novelty. the issues with Multicopters far outweighs the positives. for one you can not auto rotate with a mulitcopter, there blades do not care enough momentum and their disk area is so poor and inefficient, you would fall like a rock if something happened, 2nd all it takes for one motor to give up and you would be flung from your mulitcopter downwards at great speeds due to the imbalance of trust. i mean why would you need something like this anyway? for recon? a rc multicopter works much better while being general smaller and allows it to be quieter.  

The idea was originally for civilian use, by a couple inventors from i think Australia or something, in which point the US Army had gained interest, and of course jumped to the idea. So well, it's gone from the Consumer Market straight to Defense. But i heard that it would be used for things like Search and Rescue, as well as various other applications. However, you're right on a lot of things, but i wonder if they can develop a Quad-copter that's capable of implementing all the things you mentioned it lacks.

[veles-zv 176]

The idea was originally for civilian use, by a couple inventors from i think Australia or something, in which point the US Army had gained interest, and of course jumped to the idea. So well, it's gone from the Consumer Market straight to Defense. But i heard that it would be used for things like Search and Rescue, as well as various other applications. However, you're right on a lot of things, but i wonder if they can develop a Quad-copter that's capable of implementing all the things you mentioned it lacks.

nope the only way this thing would be practical is too have a large disk area which means better efficiency and safety. a single gearbox controlling all the rotors again for safety, each rotor needs to have an adjustable pitch, all of which will increase size and weight. and if this thing is being driven by an electric motor it will need to have a battery which has a high amp hour rating and it should be then inverted, then the circuit will be connected to a transformer on the x secondary winding, then left as is to the motor or converted.