Company developing hybrid energy motorbike for special operators.

• Position: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

As the nature of warfare changes, it's likely special operators will need increasingly stealthy ways to penetrate remote, hard-to-reach locations. That is one of the reasons Logos Technologies is developing a hybrid-powered offi-oad motorbike for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Wade Pulliam, the company's manager of advanced concepts, stated in an email.

The company received a small business innovation research grant earlier this year to design the bike and expects that DARPA will approve further funding to make a prototype, he said. The vehicle will be lighter and easier to handle than the Kawasaki M1030M I currently in use.

"It is capable of near-silent operation as well as extended range," he said. "We believe the hike can easily maintain a range of 100 miles between refuels ... sufficient to satisfy an existing military capability gap."

The motorbike can run on multiple fuels, including JP-8, gasoline or diesel. Logos expects that it will improve on the M1 030M1 's fuel efficiency by at least 10 percent, Pulliam said. Its battery can also be used as an auxiliary power supply.

To develop the vehicle, Logos partnered with BRD Motorcycles, which designed a militarized version...