mawz
- Technology
Invention Awards: Ripsaw Tank Delivers Death at 60MPH
Today's featured Invention Award winner really requires no justification--it's an unmanned, armed tank faster than anything the US Army has. Behold, the Ripsaw. Cue up the Ripsaw’s greatest hits on YouTube, and you can watch the unmanned tank tear across muddy fields at 60 mph, jump 50 feet, and crush birch trees. But right now, as its remote driver inches it back and forth for a photo shoot, it’s like watching Babe Ruth forced to bunt with the bases loaded. The Ripsaw, lurching and belching black puffs of smoke, somehow seems restless.
5.23.2009 at 04:25pm - Comment by mawzSo it's 10mph slower than an M1, not 18mph faster. The 42mph official top speed of the M1A1 and M1A2 is governed. With the governor disabled the M1 series can exceed 70mph. Any engineer who said exceeding 43mph in a tracked vehicle was impossible simply doesn't know what they were talking about. Several current tanks can do so, including the M1 and the Leopard 2 when the governors are disabled. They are governed to improve safety and power pack lifetime.
Download Our iPhone App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
Become a Fan On Facebook
Share links with friends, comment on stories and more
December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
Check out the best of what's new here.
Popular Science Photo Pool
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
- IBM's Blue Gene Supercomputer Models a Cat's Entire Brain
- Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers' Heads by 2020
- Mesmerizing, Isn't It?
- Batteryless Remote Control Pulls Power from Your Button Presses
- New Reactor Uses Sunlight to Turn Water and Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
- High-Pressure Diamond Anvil Creates a New Solid from Xenon and Hydrogen
- The Dubai Airshow As Seen From Orbit
- So Do Prosthetic Limbs Give Sprinters an Advantage Or Not?
- Robotic Surrogate Takes Your Place at Work
- Boeing's Latest Mobile Laser Weapon Tracks and Shoots Down Drone
Most Commented
- Guess This Part, Win a Tool
- This Week in the Future, November 16-20, 2009
- Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers' Heads by 2020
- IBM's Blue Gene Supercomputer Models a Cat's Entire Brain
- This Week in the Future, November 23-26, 2009: Thanksgiving Special
- New Reactor Uses Sunlight to Turn Water and Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
- So Much For "Hopenhagen"
- CERN Successfully Brings Large Hadron Collider Back Online
- NASA Robotic Rocket Plane To Survey Martian Surface
- Rat Brain Modelers Denounce IBM's Cat Brain Simulation as "Shameful and Unethical" Hoax
Most Emailed
- New Reactor Uses Sunlight to Turn Water and Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
- World's First Osmotic Power Plant Goes Live in Norway
- High-Pressure Diamond Anvil Creates a New Solid from Xenon and Hydrogen
- President Obama Hopes to Jumpstart Science and Technology Education With New Initiative
- Mourning the Death of the Meta Media Experience
- The (Slightly) Poorer Man's Tesla: ECOS Harbinger
- Decoded Corn Genome Promises Higher Yields, Better Biofuels, New Plastics
- Everything You Need To Know About Chrome OS
- Roboticists Want to Make You an Electric Car Customized for Your Personal Commute
- "Time Traveling" Web Browser Let's You Search Like It's 1999
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
