Design for New Combat Vehicle Wins Army Contest

by Alex A. Kecskes

If you're a designer, the U.S. Army wants you. DARPA, the U.S. Army's top secret Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently announced a winner in a contest to design its next truck. The winning design, known as the FLYPMODE by Victor Garcia, met the Army's need to move soldiers into and out of combat as quickly as possible.

Garcia won $7,500 for his Flypmode design; Marc Senger's Kratos took 2nd place and $1,500, and Romain Chareyre came in third place with his Sentinel design, which netted him $1,000.

Over 150 designs were received and validated. Many showed real innovation in modularity, increased visibility, unique personnel carrying strategies, optimal equipment usage, and ease of ingress and egress. DARPA noted that the winning vehicle would become a functional concept car in June of this year (2011).

The Design Challenge is expected to lead the way in how future concept vehicles will be designed and constructed. If the design challenge works, DARPA will refine the process and start a series of prize challenges that will result in a true infantry fighting vehicle.

The process is more than simply just building an infantry fighting vehicle. It's also about creating new tools and processes that facilitate the design of complex, cyber-electro-mechanical military systems with greater speed and efficiency. It often takes decades to develop a complex military system like a jet, ship or tank. The goal is to significantly cut down on that time frame to bring the most efficient combat vehicles to the battlefield.

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients. Please see more of his blogs and view additional job postings on Nexxt.