The U.S. Department of Defense announced plans to develop and field “hover bikes” a few years ago – the Army’s three propeller design began testing in January, and has already seen a shift away from use as a single-soldier mode of transportation, and toward being used as a supply drone that is merely capable of transporting soldiers into and out of the battlefields of the future.  Why this transition in methodology?  Well, as you could see in “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,” super-fast, flying motorcycles with no form of ballistic or collision protection offer a whole new slew of potential dangers to American troops other than merely being shot down.

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps are continuing with their development of their hoverbike, called the Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle, or JTARV, even if it may see more use as a drone than as a troop transport, but that hasn’t stopped the Dubai police force from purchasing a Russian version of the platform to issue to law enforcement officers that need the ability to zoom above the Ferrari-laden traffic jams of a city that boasts gold bar ATM machines.

That’s right, residents of the city of Dubai will soon see police officers flying around the city in Russian built Hoversurf Scorpions.  The only question is… why?

With a maximum suggested safe operating altitude of around 20 feet, a maximum speed of about forty miles per hour, and the ability to fly for only about 25 minutes or “six kilometers,” one could be hard pressed to think of a single valuable use for this new police-craft, even in a city that boasts some of the most exotic police vehicles on the planet.