Scenes like this can be seen in various sci-fi movies, except that such equipment has existed for quite some time now. Military forces have always dreamed of giving their troops the freedom to fly, and jetpacks are here to turn that into reality.
In a recent video released by jetpack manufacturer Gravity Industries, a special ops soldier from the Netherlands Maritime Special Operations Force can be seen sporting a jet suit while boarding a ship.
According to Defense Brief, this particular jet suit can reach a top speed of 37 mph (60 kph) for up to 8 minutes. This new tech could significantly cut down the time boarding on a ship.
Rather than trying to reach the vessel by boat, the jetpack-equipped soldier is spotted hovering and flying to the deck in a swift motion. Plus, he looks like he's having a blast doing it. I wouldn't complain either.
After DARPA officially announced on March 2nd that they are turning their heads towards potential uses of jetpacks in the military, it seems like it's happening sooner than we expected.
"These platforms could serve a variety of military missions, enabling cost-effective mission utility and agility in areas such as personnel logistics, urban augmented combat, CSAR, Maritime interdiction, and SOF Infil/Exfil. Systems may be air deployed to allow for Infil to hostile territory, or ground deployed to allow for greater off-road mobility without the use of existing Vertical Takeoff & Landing aircraft such as helicopters and CV-22," the agency says in a document.
DARPA has been looking to expand their vision to more than jetpacks, as they plan to also integrate "powered gliders, powered wingsuits, and powered parafoils which could leverage emerging electric propulsion technologies, hydrogen fuel cells or conventional heavy fuel propulsion systems. "
It sounds like Iron Man is not just a sci-fi character, but a real flying special ops soldier.
Florina taught herself how to drive in a Daewoo Tico (a rebadged Suzuki Alto kei car) but her first "real car" was a VW Golf. When she’s not writing about cars, drones or aircraft, Florina likes to read anything related to space exploration and take pictures in the middle of nature. Full profile
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