DARPA + Croudsourcing = Quickly-Made On-Budget Kick-Ass Combat Support Vehicle
59 replies, posted
[release][img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/lmi/user-images/cr87604t.jpg[/img]
[img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/lmi/user-images/cr87596t.jpg[/img]
The FANG (Fast Adaptable Next-Generation Ground Combat Vehicle)
[quote=Gizmodo]When Local Motors won DARPA's XC2V private "crowd-sourced" competition about 14 weeks ago, they secured the right to build a prototype that could eventually serve as a next-gen military vehicle for U.S. armed forces. Not a lot of time!
As you can see, however, they delivered. The fruits of their labor are on display above.
Now, while a new kick-ass military vehicle is cool, the true goal of DARPA's competition was to see how much faster a crowd-sourced project could go from concept to prototype than traditional means.
Turns out the answer was "much faster," with Local Motors completing their task before schedule (the 14 weeks). Even if they had completed it exactly on deadline the process would have still been about five times faster than a traditional build.
The beast is named FANG, by the way (Fast Adaptable Next-Generation Ground Combat Vehicle) and it could represent a much more privatized future for the U.S. military.[/quote]
[url=http://gizmodo.com/5815634/the-crowd-delivers-darpas-xc2v-military-vehicle-arrives-on-time][source][/url] (Thanks to Ignhelper, who pointed out that I forgot this)
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_2zD-hs0aU[/media]
President Obama Gives A Speech On This[/release]
I can only hope this vehicle is good enough to go through. If so, not only will the US military be unquestionably the most badass-looking military on the planet, but it will revolutionize the way our government spends money. My dad works for the military, and large parts of his job include managing contracts. I have no idea how many times he's come home from work furious because some large company that the military keeps going to has yet again sat on their asses for months on end and wasted hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Delivering not only this well, but this quickly is damn-near unheard of in military contracting of this scale. Don't get me wrong, many small projects are done well and on time, but pretty much never big ones like this. Croudsourcing is the future. It's survival of the fittest, and not only the big dogs get to play anymore.
But can it withstand "Farming Equipment"?
[QUOTE=Nikota;30757961]But can it withstand "Farming Equipment"?[/QUOTE]
That is the question. I really do hope so, for the reasons stated in the OP.
Not bad ,lets hope they go through with it, if it become's available to public in the near future i'd get one.
Holy fuck it's like the future.
It looks good, but it also looks like an IED will take one of these out worse than the regular HMMWV, and especially an MRAP
[QUOTE=TheTalon;30758087]It looks good, but it also looks like an IED will take one of these out worse than the regular HMMWV, and especially an MRAP[/QUOTE]
It's has a large ground clearance, and it looks like the bottom has a wedge to deflect the shock. If not, let's hope sexiness can protect against attacks.
[QUOTE=TheTalon;30758087]It looks good, but it also looks like an IED will take one of these out worse than the regular HMMWV, and especially an MRAP[/QUOTE]
Well, this is just the first prototype. I can see some sort of thick paneling on the bottom, but I don't know how long that will hold up under fire. Even if Local Motors keeps going at five times the rate of a standard company, it'll be years before the FANG is finished.
Does this even have more than two seats and how much stuff can you even transport in this?
[QUOTE=Falchion;30758205]Does this even have more than two seats and how much stuff can you even transport in this?[/QUOTE]
I'm gonna go ahead and say it does it's job pretty well if it's the best of 162 possible designs.
Maybe the chief of DOD said this car looks really cool and it will be their next generation ground combat vehicle.
Looks sturdy and fast, and based on the rear end I'd say it can hold enough supplies to help out a Squad of soldiers in a tough situation.
Looks kind of like one of the EDF patrol vehicles from Red Faction: Guerrilla. Cool none the less.
The vehicle is cool, but what I think is really interesting is the fact it went from concept to prototype in 14 weeks.
How come we hear of successful developments from DARPA than pretty much any other innovating company/organisation ever?
[QUOTE=Pace.;30759846]How come we hear of successful developments from DARPA than pretty much any other innovating company/organisation ever?[/QUOTE]
Because DARPA is a research projects agency...?
Put a machinegun on the back, give it a spiky bumper and paint it black and red and you've got a NOD buggy
[QUOTE=Falchion;30758205]Does this even have more than two seats and how much stuff can you even transport in this?[/QUOTE]
This is probably an example of a replacement for the sand-rail buggies they sometimes use. The designers of this will probably make an extended version with 4+ seats to properly replace the Humvee.
[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;30757883][img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/lmi/user-images/cr87604t.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
It reminds me of the newer batman car.
[img]http://detointernational.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/batmantumbler.jpg[/img]
And then congress will get in the way and cancel it like every new piece of military hardware
That vehicle looks damn sexy. I want one right now.
I'm interested less in the vehicle itself and more in the process of creating it.
[quote]Turns out the answer was "much faster," with Local Motors completing their task before schedule (the 14 weeks). Even if they had completed it exactly on deadline the process would have still been about five times faster than a traditional build.[/quote]Holy [I]Shit. [/I]Going from idea to mass-producible model is pretty amazing, imagine the possibilities.
My dad got a huge government contract once.
It was for a few thousand fiberglass storm shelters.
The planned finish date for the deal was 9/12/2001
9/11 happened, and they pulled out of the deal, leaving us with huge loans and a ridiculous overstock.
We ended up loosing the company and being poor up until about last month.
Fuck government contracts. :saddowns:
People talking about this not being able to fill the roll of the HMMWV, remember this is FANG (Fast Adaptable Next-Generation Ground Combat Vehicle). The idea is that it's a modular platform that delivers on the "fast" bit. Looks like this thing can go pretty fast.
Exactly, this would be more of the FSBV(First Strike Blitz Vehicle), and it the fact it's easily produceable just aids that role.
Also, mutha fucking timelapse
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ_LwpfU8oE[/media]
Not only did they do it on time and end up creating a badass machine, they are one of the only companies who can or will. Congratulations.
Needs to be in Battlefield 3, would be ideal for a fast moving car to get around the map and it looks bad ass.
It looks like the back hatch on the roof can be used as a firing port.
Privatized military contracts look like the way to go, honestly. Big corporate military contracts just don't seem to work, and the people who are in it are only in it for the money they get by holding off design/production and getting more loans.
I mean shit, DARPA has managed to accomplish fuckloads more than most American research and development agencies have in the last 10 years.
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