The iconic Humvee has had a long and storied history as one of the United States military's go-to vehicles, but times have changed since its 1984 debut. As with all wartime tech, evolution is key to staying ahead of the enemy, and with that in mind, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) called for plans to be submitted for a next-generation military vehicle. Fourteen weeks ago, the agency settled on a design called the?FLYPMode, and now it's a reality.
The FLYPMode was chosen out of a pool of over 150 viable designs that were submitted to the auto engineers at Local Motors. The concepts?were submitted by various businesses, designers, and car lovers. After the community picked the winning blueprint ? which netted the lucky designer a $7,500 prize from DARPA ? it was up to?Local Motors to take it from paper to pavement. They did just that, putting the total timeframe between request and prototype at just 1/5th of current defense contractor efforts.
The vehicle sports super-bright LED headlights, massive 35" tires, and a 430-horsepower V8 engine. The FLYPMode is still an early prototype, and DARPA hasn't yet revealed whether the design will be altered, put into production, or even scrapped entirely. However, the main goal behind the crowd-sourced endeavor was to see how efficiently non-traditional military prototypes could be constructed, and in that respect, the FLYPMode is already a huge success.
Local Motors via?DARPA
Image credit: Local Motors
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