Yves Rossy is Switzerland’s “Jet Man.” Check this video out:
Now imagine several platoons of Jet Men jumping out of a C-17 … goggled up at night. Crazy thought, huh? Or is it?
– Ward
Le Jet Man Est Arrive’
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Gee, I hope New Zealand’s RNZAF don’t hear about this – our high country farmers already have enough trouble with their pilots treating the C-130s like they’re low-altitude crop dusters and scaring the sheep and cattle… ;-)
What do you want to do with this? Fly dozens of paratroopers or SOF with these jet packs to dive and strike an enemy base like a thunder, such as to rescue hostages?
That’s sort of what I was thinking, pedestrian. Imagine a mission that required a quick insert of SOF elements. Make the wings stealthy and deploy from (relative to conventional parachute techniques) far away. The enemy would have ZERO heads up.
By the time procurement finishes with these, it will be 2050 and the size of a C-17
There’s a reason military parachutes have very limited steering. Can you imagine the cluster a mass-tac of these things would be? 180 skysharks, no waiting…
Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet is the first thought that popped into my head.
Imagine an airborne suicide attack by group of skilled jihadists.Strapped on with an explosive backpack instead of the parachute, they could bail out miles away from a key target and guide themselves in for the kill. Not a large explosive payload, but several of them could do some damage to a gathering of individuals or a point target, and not so easy to defend against. Not any more or less insane than AQ learning from the Egypt Air incident that aircraft can be taken over and used as weapons.
Maybe the FBI should be looking for individuals or groups of ME men trying to get training in the U.S. on advanced skydiving techniques.
Prior to 9/11, they looked the other way as they trained on aircraft.Let’s hope they are more proactive this time.
I’ve also wondered about the possibility of having JDAM kits stolen..it seems that the terrorists, with enough knowledge, could fashion a precision guided munition with these and therefore wouldn’t need a sophisticated air delivery system for an attack.
I hope these units have self-destruct or amti-tamper mechanisms built into them.