Technology has been incorporated into almost every aspect of life. Things have become exceptionally advanced, and the countries are in a tough competition of claiming access to resources. They do so by dominating and asserting their rights over valuable arenas. For this, they have to be prepared for any offense or defense. This is the reason why governments invest massively in their defense systems and military.
There has been a great amount of investment made in the militaries of every government. Technology and military weapons go hand in hand now. They are becoming smart and more precise with time. Recently, the US military also decided to upgrade further.
A next-generation with exceptionally high speed vertically taking off aircraft is being developed by the US military. This was reported in an initial report from New Atlas. 35 designs have been drafted and they are currently being scrutinized.
This breakthrough has been made possible as a result of the AFWERX’s U.S. Air Force programs. Entries were sent for a unique competition of the High-Speed VTOL (HSVTOL) challenge. The most common design was the Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk, but it could only reach the capacity of 193 knots. Another design was that of Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey that reached 305 knots, but it only goes up to 15000 feet and costs around $75 million. These limiting factors called for this challenge so innovative and practical designs could be brought forward.
The designs submitted for final rounds include The Speeder from Jetpack Aviation that is equated to a flying motorcycle. The Speeder is also supposed to carry a handful of jet turbines employing a thrust-vectoring system. It was tested by the JPF itself. It can reach up to 530 knots. Another entry is that of Barracuda from Advanced Tactics/RotorX. It has four turboprop engines to spin its rotors, the aircraft maintains balance while hovering via variable blade pitch control. it can go up to 480 knots and can lift 12500 lbs. people are waiting for the announcement of the winners now.