Darpa's Flying Humvee

A flying car in mid-2015? There are no guarantees in the world of envelope-pushing, mind-bending military tech, but DARPA says both AAI and Lockheed Martin have produced “feasible designs” for its Transformer (TX) program, known more casually as the “flying Humvee” initiative. Both designs have moved to Phase 2, which requires them to begin work on prototypes for evaluation at the end of fiscal 2012.

 This development also brings us a full phase closer to Phase 3, which is where things get really interesting: ground and flight demonstrations, slated for mid-fiscal 2015 should Phase 2 come off as planned. That’s just four years from right now. Given that we’ve been waiting for our cars to take flight for a century now, four years seems pretty reasonable by comparison.

You may recall from our relentless fawning over the Transformer program that the flying Humvee needn’t just be a roadable aircraft. Its design parameters call for a durable on- and off-road capable vehicle that can take small arms fire in stride and make a speedy shift from ground vehicle to vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft. It also needs to be easy enough to pilot that any grunt with a driver’s license can also grab the sticks of this new flying machine and be expected to pilot it safely (presumably with the help of autonomous computerized flight controls).
So you’re looking at some design incongruities there. It needs to be light enough to lift off vertically under its own power, yet will require a serious power plant (weight) and some kind of wings and/or propellor/ducted fan (more weight). It also needs space for all this extra hardware while still maintaining passenger space for four soldiers (including driver).

Like most of DARPA’s challenges, bringing this one to life won’t be simple. But speaking to a conference recently, DARPA Transformer program manager Stephen Waller told attendees that “we are seeing feasible designs,” Aviation Week’s Ares blog reports. That’s promising. Let’s just hope these things can actually get off the ground.

 by "environment clean generations"

Oxygen Issue for Military’s Most Advanced Dogfighter: F-22 Raptor

F-22 Raptor stealth fighters at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia have been grounded after a pilot experienced oxygen loss mid-flight. It’s the second stand-down this year for the U.S. military’s most sophisticated dogfighter, and a foreboding sign for the Pentagon as it struggles to modernize its aerial armada.

Problems with the on-board oxygen system have vexed the $150-million-a-copy F-22 for more than a year. On May 3, the Air Force locked down the entire Raptor fleet while it investigated reports of pilot blackouts and disorientation — problems that might have contributed to a fatal F-22 crash in Alaska in November.

Investigators suspected a design flaw in the Raptor’s oxygen generator that was allowing high levels of unbreathable nitrogen to leak into the pilot’s air supply.

But they could never pin down the precise flaw, and last month the Air Force brass ordered the 170 F-22s — accounting for nearly half of the Pentagon’s air-superiority force — back into the air.

“We now have enough insight from recent studies and investigations that a return to flight is prudent and appropriate,” said Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff.

As added insurance, Raptor squadrons installed an extra air filter on the radar-evading jets built by Lockheed Martin. But the filter appears not to have solved the problem, if the Virginia incident is any indication.

The Air Force is being cagey about the new grounding.

“Part of our protocol is to allow units to pause operations whenever they need to analyze information collected from flight operations to ensure safety,” the flying branch said in a statement. “That is what is happening at Langley at the moment, and we support that decision.”

Considering the Raptor’s ongoing safety woes and continuing delays, cost overruns, maintenance woes and production cuts in the F-35 stealth fighter program, the Pentagon’s next-generation air arsenal is looking more and more like history’s most expensive hangar decoration. With many of the latest fighters unflyable, old-school F-15s and F-16s dating from the 1980s could be forced to hold the line for years to come.