CTV, Huffington Post - Canadian military developing stealth snowmobile
The Department of National Defence plans to develop a new stealth snowmobile for covert military operations in Canada's Arctic, with $550,000 set aside to build a prototype. Ottawa has posted a public tender for a hybrid-electric snowmobile that would allow Canadian Forces soldiers to swoop silently across the frozen landscape.
Hybrid snowmobiles are not yet available from major manufacturers, but a Ï㽶ÊÓƵ engineering professor said the idea is on the cusp of commercial breakthrough. Peter Radziszewski has helped students build experimental electric and hybrid snowmobiles at the school over the last decade. He doesn't see any reason why constructing a hybrid snowmobile to the tender's specifications wouldn't be feasible -- as long as the producer can work with the government's tight budget. Radziszewski said the hefty challenge of maintaining performance in a machine weighed down by two engines and a stack of batteries won't be easy, either.
"It becomes a heavy, heavy snowmobile," he said. "It's very difficult." Radziszewski highlighted that the electric motor offers environmental benefits of zero emissions -- a feature not even raised in the government tender. "I really don't know what their interests are, but one can well imagine... that silence is golden in this particular case," Radziszewski added.
