Remember those speeder bikes in Star Wars that raced through the air? Soldiers and Marines may get to zoom around the battlespace on a type of real-life version in the not-so-distant future. The new vehicle (which flies using rotors) has been dubbed the Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle, or JTARV. Malloy Aeronautics and SURVICE Engineering Company teamed up to further develop Malloy’s Hoverbike for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. Why the interest in a Hoverbike for American ground forces? The U.S. military believes it could possibly carry teams rapidly and nimbly throughout the battlespace, and a robotic version could even be used to deliver supplies by itself. This flying motorcycle could provide three options: it could be flown by a warfighter; it could fly itself around using advanced autonomy; or a mix could be employed where a warfighter flies it and lets the smart vehicle do some of its own flying as well. The Hoverbike started in a garage in Sydney, Australia.
New Zealander Chris Malloy began working on it as a hobby, but it rapidly gained traction commercially. Most of the original Hoverbike frame was handcrafted from Kevlar, carbon fiber and aluminum with a foam core. The design is similar to a quadcopter. It has four standard helicopter-style shrouded rotors and they overlap with each other and help provide stability. The full sized Hoverbike will harness a motorcycle engine and controls. It could ultimately be as large as a small car. The current mini-prototype is operated in a way that’s similar to a hobbyist quadcopter. The smaller version uses electric motors and a standard RC helicopter controller can be used to direct it. The Hoverbike has entered its third generation of development. For enhanced reliability and survivability, this generation has multi-engine redundancy and special yaw control, in addition to other advances. The chassis is adaptable so it can be quickly reconfigured for specific missions.
There is a fully autonomous option – so this is a speeder bike that can fly itself. The high level of autonomy also means that learning to ride it should be relatively easy. It can be adjusted to vary how much input the pilot would like to give; it calibrates to how much autopilot a warfighter wants. US military Hoverbikes could be programmed with easy waypoint-to-waypoint navigation and fly itself between points and could even eventually avoid obstacles on its own. Picture Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia battling it out with enemy soldiers in that iconic chase scene in “Return of the Jedi” while on speeder bikes. Luke and Leia had to fly their speeder bikes and navigate throughout a forest while returning fire. But American warfighters could let the Hoverbike do the work for them and instead focus on returning fire. It has also been designed to be stealthy in a number of ways. Since it flies through the air, rather than drives on the ground, it has a very small physical footprint.
The operating envelope is below the radar. For a reduced acoustic signature, it’s been designed to minimize propeller tip noise from the shrouded fans. And what’s more, it doesn’t require runways or traditional landing zones, giving it more flexibility. The full-sized prototype could potentially travel at speeds of approximately 100 mph. One tank of gas could yield about 45 minutes of transport. Rectangular-shaped, the prototype is expected to be large enough to carry up to 300 pounds of supplies, or a warfighter with body armor and equipment. With that weight, it can currently travel about 10 miles before refueling. In firefights, ammunition can run low quickly and resupply is important and time-sensitive. Currently, helicopters can be used to drop off these urgent supplies, but in the future a JTARV could zoom out instead. Ultimately, there are hopes that it could reach and resupply anywhere in the battlespace within 30 minutes. Cattle, commuter traffic and beyond
How could the Hoverbike be used in the civilian world? In addition to fun, it could be used for farming or managing cattle, as just two commercial applications. It could even become a vehicle of choice to get to work and avoid that commuter traffic. Once testing is completed, the company plans to submit the prototype for certification with aviation authorities for use in civilian airspace. The latest full-sized prototype is completing construction and will begin flight tests in a few months. Allison Barrie consults at the highest levels of defense, has travelled to more than 70 countries, is a lawyer with four postgraduate degrees and now the author of the new book "Future Weapons: Access Granted" covering invisible tanks through to thought-controlled fighter jets. You can click here for more information on FOX Firepower columnist and host Allison Barrie and you can follow her on Twitter @allison_barrie. LEGO Rare & Hard to Find! The LEGO Batman Movie LEGO DC Super Heroes
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes LEGO Books & Accessories 3 & 4 Years DC Super Hero GirlsToys”R”Us, Babies”R”Us are registered trademarks of Toys”R”Us (Canada) Ltd. Use of this site signifies your acceptance of Toys"R"Us Website Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.What did you think of the Plot? BEAVeR: Rebels is like a box of chocolates: you never know which one you’re gonna get. One week, you’re watching a pretty bad episode, the next week you’re recovering from one of the best ones you’ve seen. When starting to watch, I certainly didn’t expect this to be one of the few episodes I needed to see twice in order to fully absorb it. In the MOCcing world, usually bigger is better. So you wouldn’t expect that this small AT-ST by (yes, the same one from the incredible ) would have more details, better proportions and loads more expression than your average bigger version. And yet it does. You could say this creation is awesome just because of its hilarious concept.
It does indeed brighten your day just with its irresistibly adorable look. There are those big, expressive and interchangeable eyes, the great poses and the cute but surprisingly accurate proportions. In fact, it’s way more accurate than you’d think at first sight. Details like the guns, the railings around the hatch and the claws are noticeable right away. You’d expect those on an AT-ST of any size. It’s not hard to notice the accurate grills on the head, the “eyebrows” and the hexagonal shape on its booty. A nice and clever bonus, that make it the better small creation. The rounded shape of the legs and the surprisingly accurate details on them are a bit harder do appreciate. Wasn’t expecting those on a creation of this scale. And the square beveled panel on the “nose” or the accurate details on the back of the head created with the undersides of parts? I haven’t seen that on a lot of the bigger creations! All of that for a creation that would have been great just because of its concept.
This creation truly puts a smile to your face. Not just because it’s so cute. But also because it shows that you don’t have to be big in the MOCcing world, that you don’t have to have a lot of parts but just some imagination and a good attitude to give the big boys a run for their money. Funny that, we could have said just the same about the Ewoks! While many a wonderful LEGO Star Wars creation captures a whole lot of details and atmosphere of the original, there usually is one thing they don’t capture at all. The speed of a podrace, the acrobatics of a dogfight, the slow steadiness of a Death Star moving towards it target… essential parts of the scenes, but not at all easy to capture with bricks. Not in the conventional way. managed to capture the hypnotic magic of movement in a refreshing Technic orrery showcasing the most exciting parts of the movies in their full moving glory. I love how he really designed the movement, with different elements within the same scenes moving at different speeds to create a dynamic story.
Anakin is about to overtake Sebulba! Is the TIE shooting at X-wing or is it the other way around? Is the snowspeeder going fast enough to stop the AT-AT? It’s wonderful how a clever assembly of gears can help to tell a story in which you root for mini models. Not just by creating the movement, but also by being an integral part of the scene. I love how they form planets and give the impression of dangerously hurtling asteroids to place the mini models in context. The mini models themselves are great as will. Nice little touches like the accurate shield generators on the Star Destroyer or the rope around the walker’s feet help them to come to life even more. And if it wasn’t enough, the base is the best looking battery box I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t just display some extra awesome micro models like that Death Star with an amazing texture for the scale. It also makes clever scenes with them. The Death Star is breaking through the borders of its frame and the simple but gorgeous scene with the Naboo starfighter puts the Stars back in Star Wars.
All of that makes this the perfect wonderful creation to help you dream away… if the sound of the gears doesn’t keep you awake, that is. The most ubiquitous things in life rarely are the prettiest. That’s no different in a galaxy far, far away. Take the Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser, for instance. Contrary to that other Dreadnought we talked about earlier, its design isn’t what you’d call aesthetically stunning. It doesn’t look threatening, it doesn’t look fast, it doesn’t look like anything really, but it works. That’s why it could be found all over the galaxy for a long time, at least in Legends. Its versatility made it extremely useful to both Rebels, Imperials and even Hutts. Doesn’t make it prettier though. So how do you turn such an ugly, formless blob into something beautiful? ‘s genius solution is to use ugly pieces. Those pieces no one ever uses because they’re too big, have a clunky shape and just don’t seem to belong in a detailed creation.
It seems hard to use those big windscreen pieces for anything else than windscreens or giant tiles for something else than a quick road or a surface to stick your UCS sticker to. ProvenceTristram realized that those boring parts are ideal in this situation. Not only is their shape the perfect match for the source material, the fact that they are so featureless makes them perfect for a ship that’s all about cheap functionality. As a manufacturer, it’s just more effective to build everything from big pieces instead of assembling a multitude of tiny components. The builder saw that this ship does have personality and that it lies precisely in its unashamedly placing function over form. That insight enabled him to capture it perfectly with bricks. He balanced the amount of additional detailing just right for it to be interesting to look at without compromising its unique character. He accomplished this by having the details look like big, cheap chunks that were repeatedly slotted right in instead of being all unique and well incorporated into the ship.
ProvenceTristram excelled in putting his aversion for big pieces aside and resisting the urge to make each detail unique. In this creation, he shows himself the master of cutting corners for the greater good, making the most beautiful ugly ship you’ve seen for a while. And then you haven’t even seen it ! What did you think of the Plot? BEAVeR: What do you call an episode that tries to be funny, serious, scary and smart at the same time? I’d call it a bit of a mess really. At times, I was really invested in the episode, and at other times I was bored by it. That will be the title to the Star Wars saga’s eighth episode. The hype for Rogue One was just starting to die down and I could finally roam the internet freely without the fear for spoilers when this news hit us unexpectedly. The title hasn’t grown on me yet, “TLJ” doesn’t have a nice ring to it and I find it a bit overly dramatic, but I do like the contrast it provides with the hopeful “The Force Awakens”.