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from the I'm-sure-I-parked-it-around-here-somewhere dept.
DARPA is developing a hybrid-powered motorcycle to soundlessly penetrate remote areas and execute complex, lightning-fast raids. The idea is to develop a hybrid power system that relies on both electric and gas power, allowing special ops to go off-road and zip past enemy forces with the silence of an electric engine, while also being able to handle extended missions and higher speeds with a supplemental gas tank. "Quieted, all-wheel-drive capability at extended range in a lightweight, rugged, single-track vehicle could support the successful operations of U.S. expeditionary and special forces in extreme terrain conditions and contested environments," says Wade Pulliam of Logos Technologies which was awarded a contract for a preliminary design to see just how viable the project is. "With a growing need to operate small units far from logistical support, the military may increasingly rely on adaptable, efficient technologies like this hybrid-electric motorcycle."
Logos plans to fit its quieted, multifuel hybrid-electric power system with an all-electric bike from San Francisco-based manufacturer BRD Motorcycles that uses an existing (and what BRD calls "barely legal") racing bike, the RedShift MX, a 250-pound all-electric moto that retails for $15,000. The RedShift MX has a two hour range, but will be extended with a gas tank the size of which will be determined by the military in the research period. The focus on the electric element suggests that DARPA is more concerned with the stealthiness of the motorcycle than it is efficiency. "The team is excited to have such a mature, capable system from which to build, allowing an accelerated development cycle that could not be achieved otherwise," says Pulliam.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 27 2014, @06:44AM
There's a word for that: aggression.
There's a common subset of that with its own term: assassination squad.
One thing it is NOT is "defense".
-- gewg_
(Score: 2, Funny) by dougisfunny on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:03AM
You know what they say, "The best defense is assassinating the enemies leaders"
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:35AM
And if that fails, you can start assassinating, well, anyone who might become a leader, or used to drive a car for a leader, or was living next to a leader, or knew someone who knew someone who was a suspected hostile non-combatant: and we need a silent motorcycle to do this? What the Fairy! The entire point of motorcycles, or of American Motorcycles (and yes, unfortunately there is only one brand, and I believe it is owned by Kitchenmaid Tupperware Brands now) is to be loud, earsplitting loud! So what kind of pansy assassins of Kevin Bacon degrees of separation need silent motorcycles?
Maybe it is best, when you find yourself in the silent motorcycle corps, to do what many Japanese soldiers who were drafted against their wishes did. Just saying. Illegal motorcycles are against the Geneva Conventions, and remember people (and CIA operatives), there is no statue of limitations on war crimes, and there is universal jurisdiction. Let me repeat: No statue of limitation, and universal jurisdiction. Careful where you travel to, sixty years after having been a motorcycle assassin!
But this is all research stage, hypothetical! Never will happen! I take it all back. Except the International Law of Armed Conflict part. Semper Fi.
(Score: 2) by Foobar Bazbot on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:50PM
Q: How do you make a statue of limitations?
A: Start with a big block of stone, and chip away everything that doesn't look like limitations.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday April 27 2014, @09:16PM
Thanks, I needed that. Was just about to complain on the poor literacy of Soylentils, mistaking "then" for "than", "loose" for "lose", and sometimes even "statue" for "statute".
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday April 27 2014, @08:32AM
I guess also espionage would profit from getting behind the enemy's lines unnoticed.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday April 27 2014, @02:32PM
Just as a matter of a trivia quiz: what was the last war one heard of "lines" being used by "enemy"? ... close to when some nations decided to go aggressive [wikipedia.org] without a formal declaration of war [wikipedia.org]?
Was it
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 27 2014, @04:50PM
Ukraine was definitely the most recent time.
Wow, 40+ years ago. Did you mean the oldest war I've heard of using lines? The oldest one that comes to my mind is the war between Roma and Carthage. Although I'm sure there are plenty of older ones. That's just the oldest I can think of.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday April 27 2014, @04:38PM
actually very little of what Special Operations Forces do involves aggression. one of their primary missions is providing training (which includes teaching other languages). i know that hollywood has given everybody a certain image of SF and the military in general, but its quite wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 27 2014, @06:56PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:23PM
very little
I'm hearing you say "Let's just overlook--or, better still, give our approval to those instances that clearly ARE aggression".
providing training
So, they're proving a service like The School of the Americas[1], where the military and paramilitary shock troops of foreign tyrants are taught how to better torture, terrorize, and murder the people of their respective lands in order to more effectively suppress democracy.
Right. Got ya.
Why, when there isn't *already* a dictator, does the USA try to install one?
In many, many cases, over and over again. [alternet.org] The 4th paragraph contains the long, shameful list.
.
Now, let's look at one of those "special" forces operations.
First, take years and years and years to locate the guy (by which time the organization to which "he belongs" considers him to be nothing more than an inconsequential nutball with a video recorder).
Next, breach the sovereign borders of an "ally" nation with a USA military force without, y'know, telling your "ally" what you're up to.
After that, mount an armed assault on a home with minor children in residence. [wikipedia.org]
Finally, start shooting unarmed people. To death.
.
How about another?
Bust down the door of a private residence--the wrong home--and shoot people to death who are completely unrelated to your mission.
Just for good measure, cover up your massive screw-up. [google.com]
.
How does any of this make Americans more safe?
In truth, it produces more and more people who want ALL Americans dead.
[1] ... or whatever euphemism is being applied to the school for butchers these days.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday April 27 2014, @08:40PM
well, at least you openly admit that you're hearing things that i'm not saying and trying to put words in my mouth. forgive the ad hominem, but given that, there's really no point in even reading the rest of your post since its clearly unrelated to mine.