The Hoverbike design created by Malloy Aeronautics, a small U.K.-based company, will be developed with backing from the U.S. Department of Defense, Malloy announced last week at the Paris Air Show. Malloy has teamed up with Survice Engineering, a defense firm based in Maryland, to work toward developing a design that can be used as a new class of tactical reconnaissance vehicle.Malloyflew a scale modellast year, and has recently test-flown a second-generation model, in an unmanned static hover.The newer model is large enough to carry a 100 kg weight, the company says. The company website and the video also feature images of a third version of the craft, which is more robust-looking than the one in the test flight. In the photos, it is shown with a person on board, flying just a couple feet above the ground, while tethered.
The company has been manufacturing copies of its small, toy-size drone and selling them via a Kickstarter campaign. Their ultimate goal is to create “the world’s first flying motorcycle,” which will be safe, useful and easy to maintain. It will be able to do much of the work now done by helicopters, the company says, at lower cost.
