DARPA or the Defense Advanced Research Products Agency, otherwise known as the folks with all the futuristic weapons, are now tinkering with an idea that you might already be familiar with if you have seen the Avengers movie. The agency has put out a request for ideas on how to go about building a flying aircraft carrier. This platform will have to be used for both launching and recovering aircraft.
Got an idea on how to make a flying aircraft carrier? The Defense Department wants to know about it. The Defense Advanced Research Products Agency has a request out for ideas on how to develop an airborne platform that could both launch and recover other aircraft. But before you start looking for schematics of the Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701) or Battlestar Galactica, or how you might levitate the USS Nimitz, think a little smaller, like B-1, B-52 or C-130. DARPA wants ideas on how to turn those aircraft currently in the Pentagon inventory into platforms that could carry Unmanned Aerial Systems, what most folks call drones, close to their targets. The drones could then go about their business — bombing, missile strikes, reconnaissance, etc. — then fly back to the mother ship and head for home.