Darpa Moves a Step Closer to Its Flying Humvee

[unhappycamper]

Darpa Moves a Step Closer to Its Flying Humvee
By Spencer Ackerman
September 29, 2010 | 7:42 am | Categories: DarpaWatch

In the spring, the futurists at Darpa rethought troop transport. Instead of adding armor or changing the shape to deflect bomb blasts, the agency reasoned, why not let it leap into the sky at the first sign of danger or inconvenience? That’s exactly what Darpa’s “Transformer” project is supposed to be: a mashup of a helicopter, plane and armored truck. And it just came a step closer to reality.

AAI Corporation, a Maryland-based aerospace and defense company, won a $3.05 million contract with Darpa to see if it the technology behind the Transformer can, well, get off the ground, Aviation Week reports. Based on so-called “compound helicopter” technology that the company is developing with Carter Aviation Technologies, the gist is that AAI’s design for the Transformer envisions it to carry four soldiers on the road as a car, but the rotor blades on top allow it to take off vertically into the air. The car’s takeoff functions are supposed to be automated, so soldiers or marines don’t have to be aviators to get it off the ground.

That’s not all. As Danger Room emerita Sharon Weinberger reported in June, it releases DeLorean-like retractable wings, allowing it to fly faster than a conventional helicopter. “Envision a Humvee-like vehicle with wings that fold out from the side and attach just above the rear door,” AAI Vice President Steven Reid told Weinberger. Elements of three vehicles in one.

Darpa laid out the need for the Transformer in an April request for proposals. With the threat of improvised explosive devices on the rise, the defense agency wanted an “unprecedented capability to avoid traditional and asymmetrical threats while avoiding road obstructions.” That meant, basically, a flying car — one that could perform all manner of tasks, from “strike and raid, intervention, interdiction, insurgency/counterinsurgency, reconnaissance, medical evacuation and logistical supply.” Oh, and it has to be able to climb to 10,000 feet and travel 250 miles on a single tank of gas, meaning it’s got to be green.

For fuel efficiency, it uses a ducted fan in the back to propel the Transformer forward. According to Weinberger’s account of AAI’s design, the fuel supply is in its wings — which might be an enticing target for an insurgent hoisting a rocket-propelled grenade or a shoulder-mounted missile.



unhappycamper comment: Should this thing come to pass, I'll wage a bet that this thing will be more expensive than the $100 million dollar MV-22 Osprey.

[n2doc]

1. more $$$ and more deadly.

Those fuel filled wings make great targets....

[Billy Burnett]

2. The picture says it all.

Just can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want Americans flying overhead strafing poor people living in the post full-airstrike rubble that once was their homes.

:puke:

[baldguy]

3. "...an enticing target for ... a rocket-propelled grenade or a shoulder-mounted missile."

Or a well-thrown rock.

If your expensive high-tech weapons systems can be defeated by stone-age technology, you will lose every time.

[KeepItReal]

4. To take off vertically, won't it need counter rotating blades or a tail rotor ?

...to counter the torque of the main single rotor?

The conceptual picture is deceptive.