DARPA wants to make the age-old dream of building a car that can fly a reality. But the car they want to develop will obviously only be used for military purposes, and it might become a reality by 2015. The project is named Transformer TX, no doubt after the alien robots from the cartoons and movies. The Transformer TX was officially detailed in a Pentagon budget report last year, pretty much in name only, and only recently have actual details concerning the project come to light.
The Government’s envisioned concept consists of a robust ground vehicle that is capable of configuring into a VTOL [Vertical Take Off and Landing] air vehicle with a maximum payload capability of approximately 1,000 lbs.
The vehicle would be able to carry four troopers and all their gear, and would be no larger than 30′ by 8.5′ by 9′. For visualization’s sake, that’s the length of two Hummers end-to-end. DARPA requires that the vehicle be able to lift off from a stand still, like a helicopter, and reach an altitude of 10,000 feet.
For more information, go check out The Register.
