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DARPA’s flying Humvee: Transformer concept

By | October 14, 2010, 12:00 AM PDT

DARPA’s Transformer project is a humvee with wings that, if it gets built, will be able to leap into the sky when it hits obstacles on the road, DARPA said this week.

(How many of us have dreamed of leaping into the air when we see a threat, or when something is chasing us?)

It will have vertical take-off and landing capabilities, can travel 250 miles by land and/or air, and can carry up to 1,000 pounds — that’s four soldiers and their gear.

It will also have sophisticated guidance and flight control systems so that someone who’s not a pilot could fly it — performing vertical leaps, transitioning into forward flight and updating the flight path as mission requirements change, according to DARPA.

Transformer can also be used in “(a) strike and raid, intervention, interdiction, insurgency/counterinsurgency, reconnaissance, medical evacuation and logistical supply,” DARPA says.

Six companies got contracts for the first phase, which lasts for 12 months, including AAI Corporation and Lockheed Martin Company, which are the prime system integrators; Carnegie Mellon University and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which will develop critical enabling technology; and Aurora Flight Sciences partnered with two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) recipients — ThinGap, and Metis Design Corp.

They will develop “propulsion systems, adaptable wing structures, advanced lightweight materials, the advanced flight control system, the air/ground configuration designs, and energy distribution systems.” Then maybe there will be a phase two.

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Deborah Gage

About Deborah Gage

Deborah Gage was a contributing editor for SmartPlanet in 2010.

Deborah Gage

Deborah Gage

Contributing Editor, Technology

Deborah Gage has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, Minnesota Public Radio, Baseline and various magazines and newspapers. She is based in San Francisco.

Follow her on Twitter.

Deborah Gage

Deborah Gage

I pride myself on being an independent journalist. My reporting and writing are not influenced by any financial holdings, and I have no business affiliations with companies other than the publishers I write for as a journalist.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

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0 Votes
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IED Proof?
Nice idea, but after it gets reinforced against the cheap effective weapons of defense, it won't get off the ground. More full employment for defense contractors.
Posted by sthayes
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
$1 billion a piece, who cares, it will come from tax money.
Posted by jackvandijk
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
One more waster of billions by some clown in DOD who said, Wonder if they can make us a $$$$$$$$$$$? Cost of this stuff is frightening. We will soon go broke shooting $500K PLUS rockets from drones at guys with not much more then AK or RPG's as at some point we simply can no longer afford the luxury of this overly expensive technology. Folks, in case none noted, USA is broke.
Posted by hmmmmm!
14th Oct 2010
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Have the same thought on IED's and the weight of protection but the idea that it's just another waste for the NASTY Defense contractors is sadly mistaken. American Research and Development is all but gone in the private sector due to the pressure of the bottom line. History has proven over and over that every dollar spent on advanced technology for military or space pays back enormous dividends in advances beneficial to all of society. The Apollo space program payback was a minimum of 5 to 1 especially in the medical technology. Not much of a waste!
Posted by TrajMag
14th Oct 2010
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Does anyone have any doubts now as to why this country is going broke? This device is a nice idea for a kid's toy, but I sure wouldn't bet my life on it if I was a soldier. Whoever thought up this thing has been playing too many video games.
Posted by ITOdeed
14th Oct 2010
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
It sounds like the Marine's Osprey....a good idea in theory, but a peice of junk that breaks all the time in practice.

While the idea might be good, the fact is you can bet on it that these things to break down...a lot.... and during the worst times for our soldiers.

Our DoD dollars could be spent wiser...
Posted by keitha73
14th Oct 2010
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Great, let's put some wheels on an aircraft carrier next.
We need to stop trying to find ways to move troops and work on flooding the skys with drones. The time for human-to-human combat is over. Technology is one of the few defenses against a guerilla war. If we can see, hear, and detect them while keeping them blind, deaf, and wondering where we are coming at them next, then we become the guerillas and take away the advantage from them. We wouldn't be losing UN convoys in Pakistan if there were no troops to supply. We need to go where they can't go and attack them from there. Stop fooling around and wasting obscene amounts of money on stupid concepts like floating tanks (remember FMC?), flying hummers, and hybrid copter/planes. We should make the designers and there management test these things in combat themselves.
Posted by tctaylor1031@...
14th Oct 2010
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
There is the flying hovercraft. Cost is only in the thousands.
Posted by riskfreeinvesting
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
If it isn't heavily enough armored to stand up to the stuff on the road then it is also easy to knock out of the sky! Just setup something to make it take to the sky and knock it out with an RPG or other missile!
Posted by leopards
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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Quite an engineering challenge
As an engineer, I would expect severe challenges in shielding
(remember problem with earliest Humvees and IEDs?), fuel
economy, and reliability (compare service requirements for autos
versus helicopters). Oh, and cost. I agree with an earlier comment:
fund more development of drones! We need "Terminator" type
soldiers, too!
Posted by kellycarter
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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Hey, why not a grasshopper-like "jumping" Humvee?
Wouldn't that be easier and cheaper than flying over obstacles in
the road?
Posted by kellycarter
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
The military future is robotics. Why do they need to protect soldiers that don't need to be in the battle field?
A flying Humvee to deliver and retrieve field robotic security devices, OK, maybe.
Posted by edcoyle
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Maybe if Burt Rutan is involved it has a future. Otherwise you will need a breaktrhough in power vs weight (Un-obtainium?).
I suppose we could drop these from a C17 and let the thing autorotate to slow the decent - and test the shock absorbers.
Drop them empty behind enemy lines with the keys in the ignition and let them get all snarled up in traffic.
Being creative - if the DOD does build this, we can probably invent a need.
Posted by JTArmstrong
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
I can build this! I can make it transform into any configuration, I
can make it so that it carries passengers, I can make it so that it
is nearly invulnerable to any type of weapon that can be
launched at it! YES! I can make this exactly as shown, and
very! dependable, and there will even be a button pad on the
inside that allows the crew to change the skin textures on
demand. I can add 'map teleporting', where on command a
map of the current area loads and with a touch on its surface of
the location you'd like to be, the entire craft and its crew will
whisk there, through any and all obstacles, in the blink of an
eye, via teleportation, or rather, an anomaly in the list handling
of the master program to be more accurate. Yes, for I can
make this REAL!... in Second Life, a virtual world run by Linden
Labs online. And best of all, I can sell these for L$279, which in
U.S. currency is... $1. and still make a very good profit! Just
have your soldiers come inworld as avatars, and send me a TP
and I'll come rezz some samples for everyone to fly around, just
remember... unless we are on a combat sim, they won't be able
to use the weapons... just a reminder, Linden doesn't like
'griefers!'.
Posted by DoctorEigenFlow
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Wow if only the same enthusiasm for action and leadership could have been channelled into cleaning up the BP Oil spill - or maybe helping the victims of the global recession - thsi world could be in a much better place. WHAT A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME, MONEY AND EFFORT.
Posted by trimbojd
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
can we at least acknowledge that this is incredibly cool, even if it is a
huge waste of money?
Posted by DevonS
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Wheyy-Heyy, would I love to own one of those! Sadly I agree that it is of limited use in a hot contact zone, putting adequate protection on it would make it too heavy.
But I don't agree that it is a total waste of money - provided you don't over-engineer it, on the grounds that it is 'military', you could keep the cost down. This could provide a viable method of transporting a capability to where it is needed in physically challenging environments.
The same can be done better by chopper, but they are expensive, there are never enough of them and pilots are an expensive investment.

I like all these terminator and drone daydreamers - but the reality is that most conflicts, until we get to Korea2 or a Chinese resource grab to its North or South, are not going to be the sort of full scale conflict where the smart toys can come into their own. Advanced nations troops are mostly in conflict with armed groups when we are on their territory. Morality issues aside, more often in the future troops will be committed to helping to secure resource availability in 3rd world nations and failed state environments. You can only do that with boots on the ground - and these devices could provide enough mobility to compensate for the fact that we cannot afford the sizes of armies that are need to do the job properly if we stuck to the last millennium?s tactics?
Posted by Kev Baylis
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
What if I say it has already been tried with a much lighter vehicle? Remember the Jeep (Google is your friend) in WWII? I think the saying goes... "Been there, done that..." It failed then, and will probably fail now because there is no money in the coffers to research this within reason. Same ole-same ole...
Posted by trofast8@...
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
...always designing for the last war.

We need a presence (economic & scientific) off of Earth, so we're building vehicles guaranteed to be poor at two jobs simultaneously.

Helicopters are a whole lot easier to drop than Humvees...and expensive.
Posted by wizoddg
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Slightly ludicrous. What happens at a traffic light in downtown USA, can a US marine 'hop over' ? How does one take a test to get a driving / flying licence ? Is a learner followed around by a driving / flying examiner from road to air to road.... no landing in yellow boxes !!
Posted by wooozle
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
This project isn't getting much coverage from people who specialize in military tech. That usually means relatively little money is being spent on it. And most of the technology that is mentioned here will have other applications, both civil & military. This sounds like it's more about what is possible than it is to meet a requirement. That's the proper role of DARPA - advanced research. Nothing to get worked up over, yet.
Posted by hoodedswan
14th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
I like this - can I get in as a consultant for a few million? Maybe we can brainstorm some other cool ideas... Hey, how about anti-missile death rays? Oh, we did that in the sixties... and the eighties.. and again under Bush 2 (or Cheney 1)... what the heck, dust off the drawings and let's sell them again. These guys will believe anything, as long as it isn't their money.
Posted by drbenway
15th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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On sober reflection...
As somebody else pointed out, all the money has been leached out of creative r&d by the bean counters, who use it for dividends and bonuses to (surprise!) the bean counters. So we are left with government research, which has been gutted everywhere except for cops, spies, and the military. After all, wasn't it DARPA that midwifed the internet?
So if any new technology will be developed in america, it won't intentionally save the forests or make the highways safer or any other "social engineering", but maybe useful aspects of weapons technologies will trickle down to our neighborhood.
Posted by drbenway
15th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
It's just like our government. Drop tons of money on something that will never work.
Think about it, helicopters don't just drop in anywhere they feel like. You have to make sure that there is clearance of wires and tree branches. You need to watch that the ground isn't going to stir up a dust storm decreasing vision and clogging engine intakes.
Plus unlike HUMMER drivers, you need a little more training than just a drivers license. It really is closer to rocket science.
Posted by hornkt@...
15th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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Humvees were eventually sold to civilians...
Although it'd be nice to avoid rush-hour on the freeways in a
flying car, government bureaucracy and regulation would make it
impossible to own or fly one.

When members of our government ask where all of the "American ingenuity" has gone, they fail to realize that they are the ones
who have squelched it with legal and process barriers that make
it nearly impossible for an individual person or small company to
develop and produce new technology.
Posted by Bit-Smacker
15th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Looks like a nice big expensive target for a dirt cheap RPG round.

Like someone else pointed out, our drones are the best tech we've
got. Lets keep the funds flowing in that direction and see what
further interesting variations we can come up with.
Posted by deusXmchna@...
17th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
I'm sorry, but this is a pie-in-the-sky concept that will, literally, never get off the gound, except perhaps in the testing phase.

1) It's very high-tech. The automated guidance means that it is very dependent on maintenance, and on NOT BEING DAMAGED. No allowance for damaged performance is NOT a good military characteristic!

2) A capacity of 1000 pounds means that it can ONLY perform with a half-ton total cargo. Any additional loading means taking soldiers out of it, and a complement of four armed soldiers should be seen as the MINIMUM in any combat zone.

3) Such light loading also means that it won't fly in high altitude areas, SUCH AS AFGHANISTAN.

Really, who is putting out such nonsense? And why?
Posted by Lightning Joe
18th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Most of you are missing the point of DARPA. There is a reason that Russia is trying to emulate the organization. It works.

They will likely make this prototype and it won't go further than that, but much will be learned along the way that can be applied to real world applications.

Agree that we have budget issues and need to reel things significantly, but DARPA has a proven return on investment for the country and is one of the few government organizations that I hold in high regard.
Posted by PDFITZG1974@...
18th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
They should fix the economy first before thinking about their new toys.
Posted by onetime1962
19th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Ditch the flying humvee. I agree with the Jeep-WWII sentiment.
Spend the development money on improved body armour, comms, personal firepower, and look at jet packs or a personal mobility equivalent.
That way you can jump out of the back of a C17 at altitude, secure a wider area with nimble resources, fire and manoeurve at will presenting a smaller target, and look to conventional methods for medivac, etc. from Osprey or Copters - operationally this works in any theatre.
The problem with the operating of high tech in the battle zone, is the larger the equipment, the greater the logisitics of keeping it operational.
Protect your prime assets - your people.
...and think of the longer term civilian applications of such devices...
Posted by happy.hermit@...
19th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
For the various "Why not just spend it on drones?" - Drones can't
hold ground. Drones and robots can't go out and talk to the
people in town, find out what their issues are and how the troops
can help (remember "hearts and minds" - and don't forget good
old fashioned intelligence, both the info and "smarts" kind.)
Drones and robots STILL need troops to command them. And
when (not if) they eventually get jammed or compromised?

Drones and robots work in conjunction with troops, not in place
of.

As for the concept - I agree, it's not going to get much farther
than DARPA testing. Then they'll take that info, some of it will go
commercial, some will stay military, and a decade later the civilian
world will reap the benefits in materials or technology (the military,
of course, will have it sooner - serving those same troops.)

(As for "Fix the economy," well, it's providing contracts, which are
providing and keeping jobs - and not just the white collar jobs
drawing these up on CAD stations, but folks creating and
shipping out the raw materials and parts - and if a better
manufacturing process can be found, possibly *keep* those folks
working, too.)
Posted by egmccann
19th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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And I could take them out of the sky with $100 in parts
Whip up a few home-made rockets (October Sky anyone?), attach a 6 to 12 foot length of steel cable or chain and shoot for the rotors. Big frangible target.

By the way, air power new took a single square foot of ground. You have to have boots on the ground for that. (And I'm retired Air Force saying that.) You may be able to blow the crap out of someplace and deny it's use to the enemy, but that doesn't make it yours.
Posted by Dr_Zinj
20th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
A lot of nay-sayers out there, tethered by their own ignorance and lack of objectivity. I couldn't agree more w/ the comment about the Hubble telescope and the return, intangibles included, on investment. This project pushes the brilliant and creative minds of our country's best engineers who all work towards the same goal... mitigating human tragedy in warfare. These challenges are vital to the development of our defense systems and the learning that takes place is invaluable.

Regarding the IED resistance and sustainability topic... times have changed, we're not builing w/ just steel anymore. I'd love to see the andvancement of nanotechnology take place here, particularly w/ carbon molecules who's strength to weight ratio is absolutely incredible. Parlay that into newer, cheaper, lighter, stronger frames for commercial airplanes, automobiles, etc... This could be revolutionary.

I may sound pretty "new-school" but we need to get back to being creative. There are budgets for these projects and that will be the biggest challenge... give them a shot.
Posted by BQ3
26th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
As a professional in the UAV ('drone') rotorcraft (helicopters and vertical take-off flying wings) business - and owner of an AMG Humvee, I find this concept a bit far-fetched, though this is what DARPA is all about. Initial grants for this type of system are not large sums of money - typical small business funding is $75K, and having participated in several of these Phase I awards as participant and Principal Investigator with Dragonfly Pictures, Inc., I can say that businesses spend a lot more than this in design, test and formulation of a Proposal for the next stage (Phase II), which involves construction of a working prototype. I also always end up putting in about three times the working hours pro bono, as the drone business is exciting and as close as you can get to fun in high technology. Don't assume this is going to cost a fortune, but do consider that a lot of good ideas can come from it, not necessarily as an exact match to the suggested specifications. The many who have pointed out that robot warfare is the way of the future are exactly correct. and, as pointed out, the only gap in the technology is the capability for assurance of limiting collateral damage (DARPA probably has something in the works for this, and if not, should have!!). Science Fiction pointed out the future need for cyber functions of warfare many years ago, but many in the Military are unwilling to give up the feel of the steering mechanism, rudder control or joystick in a machine for a comfy chair in front of a screen of two (until such displays are made 3-D, the brain-load is also highly stressful).
The concept illustration - to the eye of the rotorcraft aerodynamicist there are several 'challenges' to making this layout work; the designer will also balk at the weight of the rotor transmission + armor and needing about 800 hp to fly.
Posted by DavidHodder
26th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
no war no waste...
Posted by imnotdumb
26th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
Smart people can lead us to real simple n effective ideas to get things done!

why not students should be encouraged to develop such projects?
Posted by prj1444@...
27th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
I expect more for a billion dollars.
This is a real flying car for a fraction of the cost and reinforce it with
Kevlar. http://www.moller.com/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=57
If this company made it larger to increase the payload it would be
better. Why does it always have to be that cumbersome, heavy, but
impractical metal? Kevlar fabric reinforced plastics are just as
strong.
Posted by xxxxxx68
28th Oct 2010
0 Votes
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RE: DARPA's flying Humvee: Transformer concept
I am all about being on the frontline in our defenses. Are our helicopters any safer in the last few years? We had all kinds of trouble with them in the middle east wars. Now to my point. This all sounds great, but how are we paying for it? We are so far in debt... That it will just be another thing developed by us, financed by China and eventually owned by China. We should be finding more ways to create jobs online or open more small businesses. This site that I went to last week, http://www.home-based-business-ideas.org gave me some good insight. Getting down to the root of our economics and financially accepting our responsibility to pay on our debt is the only way that I believe we will avoid a major catastrophe in the near future.
Posted by rockisland
23rd Nov 2010
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