US Army Successfully Prototypes a Hoverbike

The US Army has revealed that it has successfully tested a new prototype hoverbike, designed to be piloted by soldiers to aid resupply lines. The Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle, or JTARV, is described as being like “Amazon on the battlefield” by Tim Vong, Associate Chief of the Army Research Lab’s (ARL) Protection Division.

“Anywhere on the battlefield, Soldiers can potentially get resupplied in less than 30 minutes,” Vong said. “We want to have options like that.”

The JTARV started as a Kickstarter launched by Malloy Aeronautics, which later led to a contract with the US Army and Marine Corps. Engineers working on the project intend to create a version of the hoverbike able to fly at both thousands of feet in the air and close to the ground at speeds of around 60mph.

“We’re exploring increasing payload capacity to 800 pounds and extending the range up to 125 miles,” Vong added. “We’re also looking to integrate advanced intelligent navigation and mission planning. We’re looking to end up with a modular, stable platform that can be used for even more dynamic and challenging missions.”

“The project is successful because we went from concept development to engineering evaluation in collaboration with all various government agencies and industry,” Ernesto Garcia Lopez of the Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center explained. “The demo we saw was a unique opportunity for us to show a seamless transition between one Army organization and another Army organization and having the industry along the whole time.”