Boeman Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Along comes this! Tax dollars at work, indeed. http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/30/flying-humvee-a-step-closer-to-reality-still-seems-like-a-reall/ Flying Humvee a step closer to reality, still seems like a really bad idea It looks like AAI Corp has, indeed, landed the contract for feasibility studies of the Transformer flying Humvee project, which as far as we can tell takes a lightly armored (if armored at all) four man vehicle and puts it in the air, practically begging to be hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. And if that doesn't sound sketchy enough, keep in mind that among the design considerations are gas tanks in the craft's wings which, as Spencer Ackerman at Wired points out, would make really obvious targets. The testing should last about a year, and cost DARPA a cool $3 million. If all goes well, AAI could have a partial prototype in 2013. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 This does seem wrong-headed. Why not just build a good light helicopter? Seems like basing on the Humvee just makes it heavier without any real advantages in mobility. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 And given the number of grunts in Iraq and elsewhere that seem to kill themselves driving a Hummer with only two dimensions to choose from.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmar Bijlsma Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Yeah, had my self a good snigger at this plan when I heard of it a while back. It's idiotic and infeasible on so many levels that I cannot believe anyone green lighted this. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_the_wino Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Great. Those things don't look like they could hold up to small arms fire, never mind a RPG. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 The more time and money they waste on stuff like this, the longer we'll have to wait until they have hover tanks! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Pretty stupid thumbnail analysis. Lightly or unarmoured? do they mean just like every other light helicopter in the world? fuel in self-sealing wing tanks is a problem? I guess that makes every other combat aircraft in the world useless too? And the idea that any ol' grunt will be able to fly them is equally silly. I doubt there's going to be any need for them so they'll never get built in numbers, but as "blue sky" research into technologies it seems like quite a reasonable idea - right up there with the thousand other aircraft only built as prototypes, research designs or small production runs ever since time began. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costard Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Well, if the artist's impression is anything to go by, we'll have developed a means of transfering power without the use of gearboxes or drive shafts. Fantastic stuff. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatEtr Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 This begs the question, why drive when you can fly? So then why bother with the Transformer-like Humvee to chopper. Just go with a light chopper or something. Still gotta train up a chopper pilot either way. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 Well, if the artist's impression is anything to go by, we'll have developed a means of transfering power without the use of gearboxes or drive shafts. Fantastic stuff. Nah - old hat for helicopters And since the system shows a ducted propellor for thrust, the rotor doesn't need a lot of the mechanical stuff that is associated with having to tilt it for that function. There seems plenty of room in the concept drawing for power transfer to me. ME - yep - it's going to have a pilot, not a driver!! I cant' se any great advantage from it - it'll be overly complicated, and probably won't do either job as well as a "proper" vehicle of the appropriate type would. So, if it does ever get built, my prediction is as a technology demonstrator impreactical for any "real" use! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 right up there with the thousand other aircraft only built as prototypes' date=' research designs or small production runs ever since time began.[/quote'] And probably right up there with the "old army buddy retires and gets awarded research contract by former West Point classmate and broteher-in-law" scenario. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 don't hold back - show us they cynical side of your nature...... Given there's half a dozen large organisations involved, which of them do you think the old army buddy works for?:cool: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted September 30, 2010 Share Posted September 30, 2010 This begs the question, why drive when you can fly? So then why bother with the Transformer-like Humvee to chopper. Just go with a light chopper or something. Still gotta train up a chopper pilot either way. Congratulations. You arrived at the same conclusion I did. And it only took you 13 hours and 27 minutes to do so. You're improving. Still got a long way to go though... Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatEtr Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Congratulations. You arrived at the same conclusion I did. And it only took you 13 hours and 27 minutes to do so. You're improving. Still got a long way to go though... Michael Hate to burst your bubble, but I never even read your post. So sad when a poster actually goes through calculating somebody else's post time to theirs. Good ole Emrys, the more he posts the more senile he gets. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panzermartin Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 There goes the excuse of battlefront for not including helicopters in CMSF. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!! Pad all the funded defence projects with dross so when Treasury demand budget cuts you can just drop the more inane ones leaving the sexy ones intact. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Shhhhhh!!! They might be listening! And you know what they do to people who leak their secrets. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Nah - And since the system shows a ducted propellor for thrust, the rotor doesn't need a lot of the mechanical stuff that is associated with having to tilt it for that function. There seems plenty of room in the concept drawing for power transfer to me. ME - yep - it's going to have a pilot, not a driver!! The rotors are intended to tilt. See the diagram. And they say the FCS is designed for non-rated ground personnel. The lack of drive shaft is actually because each wheel is driven independently by an internal electric motor. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 The tilting for "efficient flight" and "low speed manoeuvrability" means that het full engine power does not have to pass through the tilt mechanism - hence it will be smaller and simpler than one that has to take the whole of the engine power and tilt in order to deliver much of it into thrust. Gimballed hubs are also simply simpler than traditional types - but are harder to make as they require closer tolerances and advanced materials. Also the mast tilts - which will undoubtedly also off-load complexity from the drive and hub mechanisms. As for a flight control system (AFC) that allows control by non-rated persons...yeah right.....it might enable someone to keep the thing flying straight and level....but it won't tell them how to land into the wind, what pattern to fly on approach to an uncontrolled landing site, what the "road rules" of the air are, or how to navigate. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 It may look a bit like a humvee but I'm sure that the product, if it ever sees hardware, will be something real lightweight and entirely unrelated - maybe carbon fiber, ceramics, plastics, etc. But behind the concept seems to be the presumption that we will be engaged in these damn asymmetrical wars with strange back country 'furriners for ever. I mean, this is hardly a system that could survive in a war with a first line country - say China. Heck, any country with a half-assed AA system at the troop level could wreak havoc on something like this if caught in its radar or sights. In the end it seems like another boondoggle. Like others have said, in effect it will end up like the zebra - which was a horse designed by a committee. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dumrox Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 The new dual rotor prototype is out now. Code named CCBB 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 What an odd camo mod. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Well can you see the guns, bombs and rockets? The rest of the squadron? No? Then it's working.... I was always told the camel was the horse designed by a committee.....the zebra is just a haute couture horse 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Like New Zealand = Australia designed by 1920s Scottish Presbyterians on a budget. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merkin Muffley Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 What an odd camo mod. It's luvverly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.