REAL LIFE IMITATES SCIENCE FICTION: US MILITARY INTERESTED IN HOVER BIKE PROJECT
by Hazed
It’s not quite a flying car, but the US military is showing interest in a hoverbike that emulates the ones used in the Star Wars movies.
Malloy Aeronautics, based in the UK, is developing the prototype, which is powered by four bladed fans in protective casings – based on drone technology. Remote controlled versions are already flying, as you can see in the video at the source link below.
The hoverbike is intended to be fast and stable, and have the same range as a helicopter.
The first version was built by a New Zealander, Chris Malloy, who was based in Australia at the time. It used two fans and was powered by a 1200cc motorbike engine and flown using controls like those on a motorbike.
He moved to the UK and set up his company, partly funded by a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign.
Its first product is a four-fan drone which is now on sale for araound £595.
With funding from the US Army Research Laboratory, they are now building the four-fan hoverbike, and testing it with a mannequin called Buster.
There is no target date for the final version, nor do we know how much it will cost.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/23/hoverbike-us-military-star-wars
