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posted by janrinok on Sunday April 27 2014, @05:33AM   Printer-friendly
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.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:35AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:35AM (#36805) Journal

    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.

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  • (Score: 2) by Foobar Bazbot on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:50PM

    by Foobar Bazbot (37) on Sunday April 27 2014, @07:50PM (#36936) Journal

    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

      by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday April 27 2014, @09:16PM (#36955) Journal

      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".