Flying car developed for the U.S. ARMY
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Flying cars would enhance the mobility of soldiers. Transportation will no longer be restricted to trafficable terrain that makes movement predictable and easy to track, and a flying car will enhance capabilities for resupply operations, fire-team insertion and extraction, and medical evacuation — reducing timelines and increasing the probability of survival.
According to HLS News Wire the transportation needs of today’s deployed soldiers are typically met by either highly mobile multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWV) or a helicopter, which have limited availability.
DARPA says that its Transformer (TX) program seeks to combine the advantages of ground vehicles and helicopters into a single vehicle, maximizing flexibility of movement. The TX concept will provide options to counter traditional and asymmetrical threats while avoiding road obstructions.
The benefits of enhanced mobility are numerous. Transportation will no longer be restricted to trafficable terrain that makes movement predictable and easy to track. TX technology will enhance capabilities for resupply operations, fire-team insertion and extraction, and medical evacuation — reducing timelines and increasing the probability of survival.
Key to the success of this technology is the ability for guidance, navigation, and control of TX, conducted without a dedicated pilot and increasing flexibility. The goal of the program is to define the major components and overall design of a TX vehicle which would be suitable for military scouting, personnel transport, and logistics missions.
The Transformer program will examine the feasibility and approaches for developing vertical take-off and landing, road-worthy vehicles that carry a 4-person payload more than 250 NM on one tank of fuel, able safely to travel on roads, and be operated by a typical soldier.
Technical areas the program explores include: hybrid electric drive ducted fan propulsion system, ring motors, energy storage methods such as batteries and ultra capacitors, morphing vehicle bodies, and advanced flight controls and flight management systems.
Lockheed Martin announced that its Skunk Works unit is teaming up with Essington, Pennsylvania-based Piasecki Aircraft to develop the Transformer.
