Free Republic

Last seen in 1958, it was designed to travel 5000 miles and self-sustain for an entire year. It’s quintessentially American to drive everywhere. This must’ve occurred to the planners of the United States Antarctic Service Expedition in 1939 when the joint government-private sector project ran into the question of how best to traverse Antarctica’s frozen wastelands. The obvious answer? A car. A really, really, really big car. Or so thought Thomas Poulter, designer of the doomed Antarctic Snow Cruiser seen in these pictures. You’d think a massive machine like this would still exist somewhere, even in pieces. And surely they...

Iran’s three Kilo Class submarines are the most potent warships in their navy. A video has surfaced on social media showing one of them being transported by road. ... The implication is that at least one of the boats is not currently seaworthy. The footage shows the Project 877 Kilo Class submarine on a special low-loader. Although the video is undated, it appears current. It has been picked up by Iranian-language media outlets such as the Jamejam Daily, after it was posted on social media. The description being passed around says that it is on its way to (or in)...

The last time the three-wheeled Aptera was featured on our site, we promised to keep you abreast of any new information that we found. Thanks to a tip from a reader named Matthew, we are pleased to let you know that Aptera is now accepting orders. Aptera has a Web site here, but there is not a great deal of information or raw-data to be found there. A better source of information is at their MySpace page, which is here. According to this article, Aptera is looking at around 300 miles per gallon along with acceptable performance numbers of about...

Navy to get submarine assembly line February 16, 2007 18:11 IST With a view to bolster its undersea fighting capabilities, the Indian Navy is poised to open international bids for acquisition and construction of second range of submarines. "The request for proposals to acquire and build six new range of submarines would be floated shortly," a senior naval official told PTI. In contention would be the Russians with their 4th generation Amur class submarines armed with vertically launched KLUB-S Missiles and new generation of German HDW submarines with their Air Independent propulsion systems. The navy has already firmed up a...

ArvinMeritor and Wal-Mart Transportation announced an agreement Jan. 10 to jointly develop a dual-mode, diesel-electric drivetrain for a Class 8 tractor. The vehicle, which the companies believe to be the first dual-mode diesel-electric tractor prototype in development in North America, will be based on an International Class 8 ProStar tractor and powered by an engine developed by Cummins. "We've been working on development of hybrid drivetrains for some time," said Carsten J. Reinhardt, president of ArvinMeritor's Commercial Vehicle Systems, based in Troy, Mich. "This Class 8 project is a major step in our continuing work in alternative drivetrain development --...

One of Germany's crack new fuel-cell-powered submarines has set a world record with a two-week-long dive, the German Navy said Wednesday. The trip by the U212A-class sub with a crew of 27 from Eckernfoerde in Germany to Rota in Spain involved the longest period that any non-nuclear vessel had ever spent under water. The navy did not say what the previous record had been. US and Russian nuclear submarines can stay under water for longer. Germany, which has no nuclear weapons and no nuclear-powered ships, developed the high-tech hybrid-powered submarines to replace diesel-electric vessels that need to surface more often...

Underwater Sub Detection: SBIR Tries to Think Like a Shark Posted 06-Jul-2005 05:10 DID has covered evolving US anti-submarine warfare strategy before, including the growing importance of dealing with super-quiet diesel-electric submarines in shallow-water littorals.In response, one of the early-stage Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) approaches involves thinking entirely outside the sonar box. We talk about "submariner dolphins" - but maybe the creature they really need to emulate is the shark. Unlike dolphins, sharks don't use sonar. Instead, they rely on both an acute sense of smell and on jelly-filled canals that pick up on the tiny electrical charges a...

PARIS - Europe has angered the United States with talk of canceling its arms embargo against China - but governments and companies on the continent have for years delivered weapons and other equipment to Beijing and its rapidly modernizing People's Liberation Army. In Germany, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG says it is supplying diesel engines for Chinese submarines. And there's been a surge in European export licenses to China for goods - about $550 million in 2003 alone - that are designed for war or could have military and civilian applications, a gauge of Europe's growing willingness to profit from...