Those interested in all things futuristic and hovering may well have seen Malloy Aeronautics' would-be hoverbike by now. Designer Chris Malloy first showed off his prototype back in 2011, and last year ran a succesful campaign on Kickstarter to help get it into production. Now, it seems the US military has also taken notice.
As Reuters reports, the Malloy Aeronautics announced a deal with Maryland-based SURVICE at the Paris Air Show last week to team up on development of the hoverbike as part of a contract with the US Department of Defense. While there doesn't appear to be a firm commitment to actually put the hoverbike into use yet, SURVICE's Mark Butkiewicz tells Reuters that the military is interested in it for a number of potential purposes.
"It can transport troops over difficult terrain and when it's not used in that purpose it can also be used to transport logistics, supplies, and it can operate in both a manned and unmanned asset," he said, adding that "it can also operate as a surveillance platform."
In a statement, Malloy describes the hoverbike as a "new class of Tactical Reconnaissance Vehicle (TRV)." It's also, not surprisingly, looking beyond the military. In its Kickstarter, Malloy even talked about "precision farming and cattle mustering," in addition to use by first-responder emergency services.
You can get an idea of the hoverbike's current capabilities in the video below.
