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randmcnatt [soylentnews.org] writes:

Ever since Marvel Comics first popularized the idea, the world has been waiting for someone to invent an honest-to-goodness flying aircraft carrier. Now, DARPA says it's going to give it a try [nasdaq.com].

Not all at once, though. At least, not initially. Late last month, DARPA -- the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- announced the launch of its " Gremlins " program. While not quite a true Marvel-icious flying "helicarrier," Gremlins sounds pretty ambitious in its own right.

Essentially, the plan is to design a fleet of small, unmanned aerial vehicles that can both take off from and land back aboard a larger aircraft.

The U.S. gave the idea a try [wikipedia.org] in the 1930's. Similar article [extremetech.com] is at ExtremeTech [extremetech.com] (JavaScript required)..

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