Posted on 06/19/2008 7:06:20 PM PDT by LibWhacker
June 17, 2008 (Computerworld) An aerospace company has built a prototype of a driverless aircraft designed to shuttle hundreds of pounds of supplies to soldiers in war zones.
Dubbed a flying Humvee by Ryan Wood, CEO of Broomfield Colo.-based Frontline Aerospace, Inc., the robotic vehicle can fly 600 to 1,000 miles carrying a full cargo of 400 pounds. Code named V-STAR, the autonomous aircraft, which can execute vertical take-offs and landings, is about the size of a large SUV, weighing in at 2,400 pounds and measuring 21 feet long and up to 26 feet wide.
Could it carry human passengers safely?
Way cool! Someone should have thought of this sooner.
The V-Star will cost $4 million each in volume production, said Wood. For large-scale deployments, any military branch would need Congressional approval.
***It’s always cheap at this phase, on paper. By the time the Marines actually procure some, they’ll be $20M/apiece.
A $4million vehicle that can only carry 400 lbs? Not practical for a large scale operation.
the battlefield will eventually be too hazardous for human soldiers to survive, and future wars will be fought entirely by robots. Until they wise up and turn on their masters..
Can it can stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons?
Just imagine if the Marines had had these during the battle of Khe Sanh!
But if shot down no lives are lost.
Depends on what's in that 400 lbs. Medivac?
If someone needs to be medivaced out, they will probably need some level of care before they go 1000 miles at propeller driven speeds.
Would of been great for the SEALs stuck on the mountain top in Afghanistan. They couldn’t get a chopper in there, just send one these in there and dump off some weapons, grenades, and med kits.
Just yesterday I was talking to a combat soldier about the heavy packs our troops carry and how they seem such a detriment to their agility and fighting ability. I suggested several alternatives for supplying them without burdening them but he said, like Rumsfield said, “We fight with what ewe have.”
Thios could be a possible solution.
(A $4 million vehicle that can only carry 400 lbs? Not practical for a large scale operation.)
Wait a minute.... If it can fly 24 hour sorties, and lasts for years...and years...
Think of the Helo’s that can be freed up for other missions. An aircraft like this could increase our military aircapacity by 100’s of times at a cost of pennies on the dollar compared to the cost of purchasing full size aircraft, training their crew, and servicing the full size birds.
This is a brilliant idea.
One of these craft could do the work of a dozen helo’s.
Helo mini-air wing.....
Predators, Global Hawk’s, and VTOL supply flyers.... supporting battalion sized units.
Awesome!
$4 Million apiece? Can’t they just upsize an RC aircraft and improve the wireless controls?
Building to milspec is expensive.
I'd say that such a capability to get supplies to troops in a situation when a crewed helo re-supply is impossible... That's when they really need it.
Those things will suck down fuel like nobody’s business.
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