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Hoverbike technology in trend

The Hoverbike is the result of years worth of R&D. We combined the simplicity of a motorbike and the freedom of a helicopter to create the world’s first flying motorcycle.When compared with a helicopter, the Hoverbike is cheaper, more rugged and easier to use – and represents a whole new way to fly. The Hoverbike flies like a quadcopter, and can be flown unmanned or manned, while being a safe – low level aerial workhorse with low on-going maintenance.

The U.S. Army definitely wants hoverbikes. Infantry are the core of any military–foot-slogging armed grunts ready to bring pain to whoever they may face. But they are, by their nature, constantly outmatched. Tanks have more armor and heavier guns, planes fly well beyond their reach, and even defending ground troops often get bunkers or fortifications to protect themselves. How do troops on the ground overcome that?

Thanks to the crowdfunding campaign, we’ve seen quite a lot of the drone, but the full-sized vehicle, in its MK2 state, has remained something of a mystery. Though we’re still a few months out from seeing the finished prototype, the full-sized Hoverbike is already an imposing sight. The quadrotor frame is similar to the drones offered on Kickstarter, but decidedly more angular, constructed from a combination of carbon sheet and aircraft-grade aluminum.

In its current, rotor-less state, the inside of the circular, protective blade housing is filled with UV-stabilized polycarbonate (as pictured below). Once the rotors are fitted, they’ll cut through the material, creating a channel that reduces the clearance between the propeller top and duct wall.

The U.S. Army definitely wants hoverbikes. Infantry are the core of any military–foot-slogging armed grunts ready to bring pain to whoever they may face. But they are, by their nature, constantly outmatched. Tanks have more armor and heavier guns, planes fly well beyond their reach, and even defending ground troops often get bunkers or fortifications to protect themselves. How do troops on the ground overcome that? One way is to put them in the air. On hoverbikes.
At the Paris Air Show earlier this month, hoverbike maker Malloy Aeronautics announced they’d partnered with American company Survice to prepare a working hoverbike for the U.S. Army. This isn’t the first time the Army’s experimented with hoverbikes, but it’s been decades since a serious attempt, and improvements in multi-rotor technology mean hoverbikes may be more attainable now than ever before.

The U.S. Army is so serious about this they’ve given it a terrible name. They’re calling it a “Tactical Reconnaissance Vehicle,” or TRV, which manages to take all the excitement of a Star Wars-esque flying military bike and grind it down into a chunk of stale Pentagonese. While the news broke recently, the Army Research Laboratory has been exploring the concept for almost nine months. Rather than referring to the idea as “freakin’ flying soldiers,” they’re describing it “as a way to get Soldiers away from ground threats by giving them a 3-D capability.”