DARPA - Redefining Flight

[Monster Dave]

So it appears that a DARPA concept is moving forward. This one, where the aircraft starts and a helicopter and once it reaches a certain speed, the helicopter blades retract and it turns into a jet (of sorts).

DARPA/Boeing DiscRotor


Though this seems like a new idea, GI Joe beat them to the punch way back in 1988:






It's about time they figured it out!!

[Turf]

DARPA is easily the scariest group of people on the planet, from robot dogs to flaming bouncy balls of death (both real DARPA projects) darpa can find a new way to make it terrifying and deadly.

[Monster Dave]

flaming bouncy balls of death??!!




www.google.com.....




.....


....



....nada. 

[Turf]

i'll look up the bouncy ball thing when i get home, until then, this is another 'umm thats not possible' darpa project

iron_curtain.mp4

forgot to mention that flying rotor thing is quite cool

these are concepts for the new flying hummvee


http://jalopnik.com/5666782/these-are-darpas-flying-humvee-transformer-concepts

[Monster Dave]

!! WOW !!

[Airborne]

This Sikorsky concept is promising...and currently flying
Sikorsky X2 Technology helicopter achieves 250kt - Sep 2010

[NorDog]

For the non geeks out there, the internet started out as Darpanet.

[Turf]

i've seen that Sikorsky prototype before it seems like a good idea assuming it's cost effective

Flaming bouncy balls of death or Kinetic Fireball Incendiaries

'The idea is that you take a hollow sphere with a hole in it, made of rubberized rocket fuel. When lit, the rocket balls get very hot inside, and eject a high temperature exhaust through the hole. Then, they propel themselves every which way, bouncing off hardened walls and breaking through doors into whatever they can get into.

The key element is that they are not intended as explosives; it's the "rocket exhaust" that matters. The burning gas that propels the rocket balls will quickly heat the interior of a building or a bunker to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, destroying the contents.'

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=2001

I think i originally saw it whilst loitering in a barnes in noble in wired magazine

I was wrong about it being DARPA though, it's just awesome and completely terrifying so my brain naturally atributed it to DARPA

[Speeddog]

Helicopter blades are difficult enough without being telescoping/retractable. 

[Monster Dave]

I'm curious about the dual rotors - ie why??

I was always curious why the miltary never bought into the Comanche.

[derby]

I'm curious about the dual rotors - ie why??

counter-rotating... no need for a tail rotor.

[derby]

I was always curious why the miltary never bought into the Comanche.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing/Sikorsky_RAH-66_Comanche#Cancellation

...decision to cancel the Comanche helicopter program in view of the need to provide funds to renovate the existing helicopter fleet of aging attack, utility, and reconnaissance aircraft. The Army also planned to use Comanche program funds to speed up unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) development.

...

Technology developed for the Comanche is expected be integrated into the Apache and other U.S. military helicopter developments. The Army was developing the Bell ARH-70 to replace the OH-58D in place of the RAH-66, but after cost overruns, the ARH-70 was canceled in October 2008.

the arh-70 was nowhere near as sexy as the comanche.