Why We Win...

Cause We're Smarter Than Everybody Else--In spite Of Our Government's Stupidity


Below are the actual words from a recently closed US government solicitation for bids. Read along with me:

AF083-096 TITLE: Perching Micro Air Weapon

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Weapons

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: To develop the technology for a Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) to harvest alternative power/energy sources to remain “on call” and engage targets while perching on a structure.


DESCRIPTION: The field of MAVs is revolutionary and highly necessary to maintaining complete dominance in the ever changing battle space environment. One newly identified role for MAVs is for a bird size Micro Air Vehicle, less than two pounds, to have the ability to harvest power or energy from alternative sources (e.g. power lines, wind, solar, etc.). This MAV should be capable of flying to and then perching on structures (e.g. power lines, trees, buildings, ground, etc.). Once perched, the MAV must be re-deployable, being able to return to the user or to remain “on call” and engage targets. The MAV will be remote controlled through the use of a line of sight datalink. The datalink will have an approximate range of 5 km at a frequency of about 1 GHz. A small onboard video camera will transmit what it sees back to the user by way of the datalink thus allowing the user to designate the target. The MAV will use GPS and an inertial navigation system (INS) to accurately fly from one waypoint to another as required. The warhead payload should be on the order of half a pound of high energy explosive which will be used to target people and/or lightweight vehicles. Combining all of these features a user would be able to fly the MAV into any environment, wait for an extended period of time for a specific target, and then eliminate the target. The ability to harvest power/energy from external sources is critical to persistent surveillance and would extend the operational time of the MAVs exponentially and benefit the war fighter immensely. These capabilities would require innovative technologies in power harvesting and storage technologies.

PHASE I: Define concepts and predict the performance for harvesting and storing power/energy from external sources for application to a perching MAV weighing about two pounds. The power plant should weigh no more than half a pound, and fit roughly within an eight inch long fuselage of one and a half inch radius.

PHASE II: Develop an operational prototype that demonstrates the intended technological concept. The final report should describe how CONOPS are supported and how using an alternative power source as well as the ability to perch affects the structure and design.

PHASE III/DUAL USE: Military Application: This technology will provide users an unprecedented surveillance and targeting combination for any environment. Weapon could wait days for a specific target. Commercial Application: This technology could be applied into any remote controlled device to provide it with a longer functional time.

REFERENCES:
1. Energy Havesting (EH) for Small Air Vehicles: http://www.dodsbir.net/SITIS/archives_display_topic.asp?Bookmark=29652.

2. Wickenheiser, Adam, Garcia, Ephrahim, "Longitudinal Dynamics of a Perching Aircraft," Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 43, No. 5, September-October 2006, http://lims.mae.cornell.edu/pubs/[Wickenheiser]%20Longitudinal%20Dynamics.pdf.

3. Bachmann, R., Boria, F.J., Quinn, R.D., Kline, J.E., Vaidyanathan, R., "Utility of a Sensor Platform Capable of Aerial and Terrestrial Locomotion," IEEE Conf. on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, July 2005.

KEYWORDS: Micro-Air Vehicle, alternative energy supply, precision engagement, Multi-mode mobility, perching

So now our military is buying "mechanical Pigeons" that can fly around and "see" what's going on out there in the world and transmit the information back to a safe location instead of putting some poor bastard with combat boots and a helmet in harms way.

I LIKE IT.

How about you?