Military "transformer" vehicles are getting closer to take off
The idea of a vehicle soaring like a helicopter sounds like science fiction. But four years after the Pentagon began funding the vision of a flying military "transformer" vehicle, the project took hold on the ground of reality. Two prototypes, one from the manufacturer of the aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin and the other from the aviation start-up company Advanced Tactics, offer possible ways to realize the idea of a flying military car on the battlefields of the future, where mainly robots will fight.
The US military's first flying vehicle may be the Black Knight Transformer pictured.
Such a flying vehicle could be useful for transporting commando fighters into enemy territory, evacuating wounded from built-up areas inaccessible to helicopters and transporting supplies to remote units. The American Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) aims for the vehicle to allow even a simple soldier to operate it without the need for pilot training. This is a critical requirement because it emphasizes the need for an independent "brain" like the computers that may one day operate drones and robots.
DARPA recently authorized Lockheed Martin to build and fly by mid-2015 a prototype flying vehicle now known as the "variable configuration embedded aviation system" (ARES). Actually, ARES is not a real flying car. It is an unmanned vehicle capable of taking off and landing vertically and carrying light off-road vehicles. Because of this, ARES is also capable of carrying cargo and medical evacuation cells, as well as sensors for battlefield intelligence and observation. In addition, the ARES propellers are enclosed in sleeves, and they are not open like the helicopter blades, which allows it to fly faster and operate without endangering the soldiers from being hit by the rotating blades.
Another prototype, being developed by Advanced Tactics, an El Segundo, Calif.-based aerospace startup unrelated to the DARPA project, is more like the flying car we're used to imagining. Her Black Knight Transformer is supposed to fly at a speed of up to 240 km/h and a maximum distance of almost 470 kilometers. It can fly thanks to eight small open rotors that can be folded and brought closer to the vehicles body when traveling on the ground. This vehicle is also equipped with the drive system and suspension of a large SUV, and is capable of traveling at a speed of up to 110 km/h and carrying a load of up to 450 kilograms (or five passengers).
At Advanced Tactics, they aim for their transformer to be smart enough to perform aerial resupply and evacuation missions independently, while humans will only drive it on the ground. The company conducted test drives in its prototype in December 2013 and first test flight in April 2014.
Even if the flying vehicles will never be used, the effort to develop sophisticated software for the independent flight of piloted vehicles is a worthwhile endeavor, says Paul Scarr, director of the 20YY Warfare Initiative project of the Center for a New American Security. Software that knows how to fly and land flying cars without other intervention will pave the way for battalions of unmanned vehicles and smart robots that the new human soldier can operate. And perhaps allow the US military to convert helicopters and other manned vehicles into unmanned robots ready to enter danger zones.
The article was published with the permission of Scientific American Israel
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Four hours in the air, not bad, the ability to combine travel with flight, completely rampant with the similarity to the good of course the main problem is the battery
My answer to the commenters. - SA This "truck" can carry 450 kg, so it is neither a truck nor a helicopter.
A truck is capable of transporting several tons of cargo. So you need ten such tools as the equivalent of one truck.
On the other hand, one helicopter will be faster and can carry more cargo.
Maybe I'm wrong.
Good day and quiet
Sabdarmish Yehuda
Sabdarmish Yehuda
Doron B is right. The movement ability of a helicopter on the ground is extremely limited. You wouldn't want to see a storm driving in Ayalon, would you?
Here the ability to fly is a secondary addition. Secondary - but critical.
The difference "amphibious vehicle" is not a boat, these are a vehicle capable of crossing a water obstacle..
And a vehicle with the ability to fly, is not a plane/helicopter, these are the ones that have the ability to have certain abilities for a while in the air. Or already has a certain vertical flanking ability.
You know airplanes have a serious problem with travel and that was in the field.
I don't understand what is the essential difference between this vehicle and a helicopter?, which has six rotors instead of a single one or two?
It seems to me that it is something in the style of half tea and half coffee.
But what do I understand?
Good day and quiet
Sabdarmish Yehuda