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'SilentHawk' Stealth Dirt Bike
[Popular Science] A dirt bike is a tool for getting a person to a place they shouldn't be. Lightweight, made for rough terrain, and fast, motorcycles allow special forces to slip through woods, navigate narrow canyons, sneak through alleyways, or hurtle down footpaths. There's only one problem: dirt bikes are really, really loud, so any secrecy gained by using a bike is lost to the engine's roar. Which is why DARPA, the Pentagon's future projects wing, is funding the development of a versatile electric dirt bike, so that special forces can have as silent a ride as possible on two powered wheels. The bike is called "SilentHawk," and after receiving the first prototype, DARPA liked to so much they asked for two more.SilentHawk is a collaboration between Logos Technologies, which makes military tools like drones and sensors, and Alta Motors, which makes electric dirt bikes. Creating a silent motorcycle meant starting from an electric bike. As designed, one modification of the SilentHawk uses a hybrid engine, so it can run on gas most of the time, and on electricity when it needs to be quiet. And it's not limited to gas: It's can run on diesel, as well as JP5 and JP8 jet fuels, so that the special forces using it in the field can power it with whatever fuel they might encounter. When running on fuel, the SilentHawk recharges its own batteries and any electronic devices the troops might have, like radios, GPS receivers, or tablets. Alta Redshift video. Posted by: Besoeker 2017-06-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=489546 |