A Future vehicle What's the Moller Skycar? While many technological advances occur in an evolutionary manner, occasionally a revolutionary technology appears on the horizon that creates startling new conditions and profound changes. Such is the case with the privately developed Moller Skycar, which is named after its inventor. With the inventor permission, I would like to discuss the military potential of this vehicle. The reinforced Moller Skycar variant the military is evaluating is called the light aerial multipurpose vehicle, or LAMV (pronounced 'lam-vee'). The LAMV is a vertical take-off and landing aircraft that can fly in a quick, quiet, and agile manner. It is a new type of vehicle that combines the speed of an airplane and the vertical take-off capability of a helicopter with some characteristics of a ground vehicle, but without the limitations of any of those existing modes of transportation. The LAMV is not operated like traditional fixed-or rotary-wing aircraft. It has only two hand-operators to direct the redundant computer control twists to select the desired operating altitude and moves fore and aft to select the rate of climb. The right-hand control twists to select the vehicle's direction and moves side-to-side to provide transverse (crosswise) movement during the hover and early-transition-to-flight phases of operation it also moves fore and aft to control speed and braking. Simply put, the LAMV is user-friendly. The LAMV of the future will be 18 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 6 feet high and weight 2,200 pounds. It will hold four passengers and a payload of 875 pounds (including fuel). The vehicle will have a maximum rate of climb of 6,400 feet per minute and an operational ceiling of 30,000 feet. It will attain a top speed of 390 miles per hour at an altitude of 6,000 feet and a cruising speed of 350 miles per hour at 25,000 feet, and it will have a maximum range of 900 miles at 80 passenger miles per gallon. The LAMV also will be quiet enough to function as an acoustic 'stealth' plane at 500 feet. It will have a vertical take-off and landing capability and emergency airframe. parachutes, and it will be capable of using various fuels. The LAMV features redundant, independent computer systems for flight management, stability, and control. Two airframe. parachutes can be deployed in the event of the vehicle's catastrophic failure. These parachutes ensure that the LAMV and the operator and soldiers it carries can land safely. The Wankel-type rotary engines are very reliable because of their simplicity. The three moving parts in a two-rotor Rotapower engines are approximately seven percent of the number of parts in a four-cylinder piston engine. Each engine room fully encloses the engines and fans, greatly reducing the possibility of injury to soldiers who might be near the vehicle in the event of an engine fire or explosion. Multiple systems check fuel for quality and quantity and provide appropriate warnings. The LAMV can land on virtually any solid surface. The LAMV is aerodynamically stable. In the unlikely event that sufficient power is not available to land vertically, the LAMV's stability and good glide slope allow the operator to maneuver to a safe area before using the airframe. parachutes. Since computers control the LAMV's flight during hover and transition, the only operator input is to control speed and direction. Undesirable movements caused by wind gusts are prevented automatically. The usage of LAMV in the future The potential economic advantages of the LAMV are worth mentioning. Its fuel-efficient engines and ability to operate on various fuels will low fuel costs. The LAMV uses one-fourth of the fuel per passenger mile used by the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey or high performance helicopters. The LAMV's acquisition cost also will be a significant factor in its favor.