Here’s something to appeal to the wannabe Jedi in all of us — hoverbikes.
At the Paris Airshow this week, it was announced that the U.S. Army Research Laboratory has inked a deal with a UK company Malloy Aeronautics and Maryland-based defense firm SURVICE Engineering Co. to develop hoverbikes for the Defense Department.
According to Malloy, the hoverbike shown in the YouTube video above and in the photo to the right is the second-gen version: “This vehicle is very capable of lifting a person of at least 100kg (220 pounds), however for safety and legal reasons we are testing this vehicle as a drone for the time being.”
Malloy Aeronautics raised money via Kickstarter to develop a drone and other technology to support its hoverbike, closing with just over $100,000 in August 2014 and more than 450 backers. Learn more about the hoverbike’s specs and other developmental details here.
Could hoverbikes be in our commercial future? Who knows. But from watching Luke and Leia whip around Endor, I’d be down for one.
