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France and the Britain may be wrestling with the issue of what they can and can’t afford. And here in the US, government spending is at the heart of many political debates, ahead of the upcoming Congressional elections. But over at the Pentagon there’s still room in the budget for a $9 million program to develop a flying humvee. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Bill Hennigan is the aerospace writer for the Los Angeles Times. Download MP3
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LISA MULLINS: So France and Britain are wrestling with the issue of what they can and can not afford. And here in the United States, government spending is at the heart of political debates, prior to the upcoming Congressional elections. But over at the Pentagon there’s apparently still room in the budget for a 9 million dollar program to develop, a flying Humvee. That’s right, a Hummer that can fly. And hover. Not to mention, do it all by remote control. Bill Hennigan is the aerospace writer for The Los Angeles Times. What would a flying Humvee look like?
BILL HENNIGAN: Well, it would look like a Humvee that’s on the ground only it would fly in the air. I mean they’re going to have folding wings that pop out from the side and then a rotor blade that would turn on the roof. The entire endeavour kind of reminds me of the GI Joe cartoons. You remember the toys that you could find on the Toys ‘R’ Us shelf. These sort of – you can do it all hybrids.
MULLINS: That’s right and we should say this is called, this vehicle, if it comes to be, is called the Transformer.
HENNIGAN: That’s correct. DARPA is behind this and they’re known for a number of, you know, thinking outside the box when it comes to government contracts. They were behind some of the more innovative technologies such as the internet. But they also have backed some boneheaded endeavours as well like robotic elephants.
MULLINS: Robotic elephants that would go through the jungle. And DARPA, again, is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is part of the Pentagon. So, would you put this in the boneheaded category or is it simply that when you’re trying to think outside the box, sometimes you plan things that make you seem like you’re out of your mind?
HENNIGAN: It’s hard to tell at this point. Sure, I mean it sounds ludicrous at this point, but it’s important to note that the proliferation of IEDs, or roadside bombs, have really had it’s cost on the US military. And this offers Humvees the capability to fly above the fray.
MULLINS: Well, if you’re looking at the laws of physics and all that, I mean how much armor can you really put into something that’s supposed to fly?
HENNIGAN: They want to be able to haul around a thousand pounds and thinking about a typical Humvee, a typical Humvee gets about 16 miles per gallon while travelling at highway speeds. So when you put all these things together it does seem far-fetched, but again there’s no telling what engineers can do when armed with the right funding.
MULLINS: So, how much money’s being awarded for the design of this? How much might it cost and where is it in development?
HENNIGAN: Well, this is the very tip of the iceberg. I mean this is just an idea at this point, so 9 million dollars is going into the development of the vehicle. That 9 million dollars is being spread out over 6 companies. But there’s actually no hardware being built at this point. It’s all an idea and seeing what engineers, really letting engineers let their mind go wild and try to develop a system to be able to field one day.
MULLINS: Alright. Thank you very much for the latest on what seems right now anyway to be fringe science. Bill Hennigan, aerospace writer for The Los Angeles Times, bringing us up to date on the plans for a flying Humvee. You can see artist’s renderings of the proposal at TheWorld.org. Bill, thank you.
HENNIGAN: Thank you.
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