Monstrous Tech Innovations of 2013.

The future is all around us. From medical miracles that could cure our most deadly diseases to transportation revolutions that will change how we travel around the planet, these are the ten most impressive cutting-edge machines were covered this year by anybody. There was once a time when man looked to the skies and expected to see giant balloons rather than airplanes drifting above.

The Hindenburg Disaster promptly put an end to those dreams. But nearly a century later, one company may have finally figured out how to build a dirigible suitable for the 21st century. Just don't call it a blimp.

OBAMA'S OSPREY

Even with the VH-71 helicopter projectpermanently grounded, President Obama still has a number of egregiously expensive air transport options—such as the newly unveiled MV-22 Osprey—to choose from. The only problem is the MV-22 is that he's not actually allowed to ride in it.
The Marine Corps MV-22 is a specialized derivative of the much anticipated (and heavily criticized) V-22 Osprey designed specifically for Marine Helicopter Squadron One, the air transportation unit charged with shuttling the President and top administration officials around the world. Like its combat-ready counterparts, which have already logged more than 10,000 flight hours in Afghanistan, the MV-22 is a tilt rotor aircraft capable of both vertical takeoffs and forward flight using a pair of rotating turboprops.
The Osprey measures 54 feet long with a 45-foot wingspan. On each wingtip sits an 38-foot diameter, 3-blade composite rotor attached to a rotating nacelle that can swivel up to 90 degrees. A pair of 6,150 HP Rolls-Royce Allison T406/AE 1107C-Liberty turboshafts provide the thrust. This allows the powered lift aircraft (as it's classified by the FAA) to take off and land like a conventional helicopter when the nacelles are vertical, then convert into a more fuel-efficient turboprop plane once it's in the air by rotating the nacelles forward. It can also perform a hybrid rolling takeoff with the rotors at a 45-degree angle.

THE WORLD'S LARGEST CARGO PLANE.

Whether you need to get an airliner across a continent without flying it, piggyback a space shuttle to its launch site, or ship Snoop Dog's oversized tour stage to Nigeria, you're going to need the world's biggest and strongest aircraft: the Antonov An-225.