Gadgets Military Transportation Electric Vehicles

Developing a Stealth Motorcycle – Do You Need to Ask Why?

August 15, 2014

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August 15, 2014 – Today’s guest blogger is Heidi Cardenas, whose topic is stealth technology, and in particular the U.S. Department of Defense’ project to develop an “invisible” motorcycle. Heidi is a freelance writer with a background in human resources, business administration, technical writing and corporate communications. She enjoys writing on a wide range of subjects and we welcome her contribution.

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Military forces have used various modes of transportation throughout history. The sultans of India used war elephants, as did Alexander the Great, the Romans and some African civilizations. The Japanese used bicycles in World War II to advance on and surprise the British. Now the U.S. military is investing in a silent and versatile mode of transportation to enable soldiers to get into otherwise inaccessible areas of the world—hybrid/electric stealth bikes.

DARPA and the Quest for Military Advantage

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, whose mission is to create breakthrough technologies for national security, is no newcomer to stealth technology development. The research agency has developed unmanned aerial vehicles, technologies for precision guidance and navigation, and night vision, among many other stealth tools and technologies that provide military advantage. Its range of stealth technologies include helicopters, naval vessels, fighter planes and bombers. It is even investing in invisibility cloaking technology.

DARPA invests in lots of technology including communications, military cyber capabilities and outer space. They contract out work to companies at the forefront of advanced information technologies, electronics, materials science, biological sciences, energy and much more.

In the area of motorcycles they have invested in development of a multiple fuel, hybrid-electric power dirt bike engine that runs silently and for an extended range. Recently Allison Barrie of Fox News reported that DARPA had awarded a $100,000 U.S. research grant to two companies, Logos Technologies and BRD, to develop a preliminary design for its stealth bike program.

First Phase of Development

Logos Technologies is an almost 20-year-old Fairfax, Virginia-based defense technology company that develops biofuels, lasers, advanced nuclear engineering and cyber defense systems.

BRD has been in business for 7 years and is known for building state-of-the-art electric motorcycles. Their motorcycle development expertise combined with Logos Technologies defense expertise is the reason DARPA made the investment.

The first phase is for a preliminary design to gauge the viability of fitting a quieted, multi-fuel hybrid-electric power system into BRD’s all-electric RedShift MX model, a 120 kilogram (250 pound) motorbike that currently retails for $15,000 U.S. The RedShift model currently operates for up to to two hours but with the multi-fuel engine should have a vastly extended operational range.

A Variety of Uses

Rugged, lightweight, two-wheel-drive motorcycles for off-road use give soldiers the advantage of speed and stealth when in enemy territory. Regular motorcycles make too much noise. With the need for small military actions in remote and extreme terrains, quiet, off-road motorbikes are a good fit making transportation possible in narrow, steep locations that are otherwise accessible only on foot or by pack animal.

Along with special operations, silent hybrid bikes are useful in scouting, leading convoys, military policing, and as a portable electric power source. The bikes can run silently when just using the electric motor or they can operate like a normal motor bike using a small internal combustion engine that uses gasoline and multiple other fuels.

Logos Technologies program manager Wade Pullman estimates development of the prototype bike should begin this summer. Pullman explains “quieted, all-wheel-drive capability at extended range in a lightweight, rugged, single-track vehicle could support the successful operations of U.S. expeditionary and special forces in extreme terrain conditions and contested environments…..with a growing need to operate small units far from logistical support, the military may increasingly rely on adaptable, efficient technologies like this hybrid-electric motorcycle.”

So what classifies the motorbike as a stealth vehicle? It will be in the materials used to build the frame, its quiet ride and small form factor that will make the motorbike virtually invisible to the enemy. So here is a sneak preview of what the U.S. military’s latest stealth technology will look like. On the left under wraps and on the right revealed.