| An idea drawn from the early days of commercial aviation may help the Army solve its chief 21st century logistics problem: getting materiel inside hostile terrain without diverting troops to protect supply lines. Responding to a request from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Groen Brothers Aviation of Salt Lake City, Utah, has devised a way to turn a standard Lockheed Martin C-130 cargo plane into an aerial delivery truck. The converted aircraft could take off and land like a helicopter, then sprint out of harm's way at 300-mph speeds. Converting a C-130 into what Groen calls a Gyrolifter would require altering the airplane's tail assembly and adding a 5-blade rotor.
http://rotter.net/forum/scoop/5260.shtml
BTW, the american army already tried to do it using rockets and built 2 prototypes. At the bottom of the page (link) there are two photos of it. |
