Comments on: DARPA’s Transformer Project Should be Finished by 2015

By: sola

sola — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:08:05 +0000

This price target seems achievable only if the whole thing uses only “commodity” car/armed vehicle components. For example no kerosene burning for the powerplant, only simple gasoline or diesel.

The powertrain will certainly be tricky to share between the wheels and the propellers, especially if you want to have the capability to transform and start flying at speed (e.g. speeding away from a combat zone and not having the option to park down, transform and lift-off).

Very likely the result will fly like brick but it may still be useful in certain scenarios.

By: maxx

maxx — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 04:10:31 +0000

US$200k ?

He’s either on crack or he’s talking about producing at least 100,000 of these vehicles, that being average manufacture cost ?

By: Baba Doodlius

Baba Doodlius — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:47:02 +0000

Here’s a prediction from the Great and Powerful Baba Doodlius:

This thing will cost waaaay more than $200K.

No psychic powers required to reach this epiphany.

By: Leather

Leather — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:54:34 +0000

And if the propeller becomes damaged on the battlefield? But you wouldn’t necessarily know it until you tried to fly.