Now, officials from the United States military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, have expressed interest in developing a flying aircraft carrier that can launch a fleet of unmanned drones.
Fans of the movie, “The Avengers”, may remember a flying aircraft carrier.
Now, officials from the United States military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, have expressed interest in developing their own flying aircraft carrier that can launch a fleet of drones.
Dan Patt, a DARPA program manager is quoted as saying: “We want to find ways to make smaller aircraft more effective, and one promising idea is enabling existing large aircraft, with minimal modification, to become ‘aircraft carriers in the sky.’”
They are accepting ideas from companies, universities, and organizations that want to participate in the development of a flying aircraft carrier.
The proposals have to be eight pages or less, and outline operational concepts and mission applications, along with comparative costs to existing conventional technologies.
During the 1930’s, helium filled dirigibles were briefly used to launch planes, but the early flying aircraft carriers crashed shortly thereafter, which led to the US Navy ending that operation.
