【Submission Season 1 Episode 1 (2016)】

Last week,Submission Season 1 Episode 1 (2016) the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) took one of its coolest-sounding projects out for a spin to show off for Department of Defense officials. It's the joint tactical aerial resupply vehicle (JTARV), an electric quadcopter drone that researchers have dubbed "the hoverbike."

While the project looks to be little more than a high-powered drone for now, its potential for the future is what so excites researchers and defense officials.

Developed in a joint effort between Army researchers and the Marine Corps, the hoverbike has been in the works since summer 2014. The project also tapped the UK's Malloy Aeronautics and SURVICE to bring the concept to a full-scale prototype.

Malloy made waves with its manned hoverbike prototype back in 2015, which raised over $100,000 on Kickstarter and reportedly hit speeds of up to 92 mph. With Malloy on board, hopefully the ARL project could turn into something a bit more rideable in the future.

For now, though, JTARV is being developed for the purpose of providing autonomous resupply services for soldiers in the field, and it still needs quite a bit of work before it's ready for even that.

"We're exploring increasing payload capacity to 800 pounds and extending the range up to 125 miles," said the ARL Protection Division associate chief Tim Vong in a statement. "We're also looking to integrate advanced intelligent navigation and mission planning. We're looking to end up with a modular, stable platform that can be used for even more dynamic and challenging missions."

Sorry, Star Warsfans -- the ARL hoverbike isn't quite ready to engage in any high stakes speeder bike chases. But if a YouTuber can build his own DIY rig, we can't be too far off. We'll get there someday.

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