Goto

Collaborating Authors

 hoverbike prototype fly


Come watch the Army's hoverbike prototype fly

Popular Science

The hoverbike was first built by Malloy Aeronautics, and originally carried a tiny, robotic passenger back in 2014. In 2015, Malloy partnered with an American company on a version known as the "tactical reconnaissance vehicle," or TRV, an acronym so sterile that it seemed tailor-made for the Pentagon. In 2016, the Army Research Lab showed off progress on the device, whose name was sterilized even further into the Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle. The changing of names reflect a change in focus for the program: while it's easy to dream of camouflaged scouts hovering around the battlefield, that's a hard task, requiring that the device safely transport humans. For now, the hoverbike will be a useful, odd-shaped drone, instead of a fancy steed.