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Royal Marines trial jet packs for boarding vessels
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More likely a good peppering of 12.7mm from a DShK, if they try a boat assault like that off the coast of Iran, Yemen or Somalia!
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Looks impressive, but a short burst from a mp5 would take them all out in seconds unless they were suited in full body armour.
Then there’s the noise from those screaming jets...... No surprise attacks and no covert boardings. probably some use if we could drop a pack or 2 for a downed crew to quickly put some distance between themselves and an approaching enemy. Fitted With standard off the shelf drone circuitry I can see those “packs” being parachuted into a location to enable the self extraction / escape of a seal team.....suit up and press start...jetpack then automatically “returns home” or removes the “captured target” to his new home. rescue uses in inaccessible locations ? How about parachute a medic and spare pack into a very remote bush or mountain area, have him suit up the injured party and deliver them to the ramp of a low flying herc ? all sounds very James Bond right now but look at the advances in recreational drone technology recently , Given time the jetpacks will evolve to be quieter with better fuel burn, by then its uses will be limited by ones own creativity. |
Originally Posted by NutLoose
(Post 11038222)
I wonder if they will get wings?
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Fed up with delivery delays, new secure way to pass on the Cap Comp trophy is trialed.
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Plenty of negative comment, but this is just a trial using one convenient Patrol Vessel. IMO insertion onto the acres of deck of a super-tanker, or an offshore oil rig, would be a more likely operational scenario.
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In principle this has many applications - as has already been stated - for SAR / Mountain Rescue there is a video on t’intereeb somewhere showing that exact application. Self extraction is also a plus point.
However, as I understand it, thrust vectoring by changing arm positions is how they’re controlled. Leaves a possible hostile boarding environment where the ability to defend oneself at the same time requires so “work”. |
I wouldn't want to go swimming wearing one of those...
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Accept it is just a trial but add a bit of body armour and weaponry and I guess you'd need quite a bit more thrust and/or fuel. Switching rapidly from transit mode to fighting mode and back might also be an issue.
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There was a feature article in Saturday’s Times magazine on the inventor.
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Incorporate one into an ejection seat, might be handy if you could fly away from the locals after your just delivered some democracy on them.....
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reminds me of an early RM trial of a hovercraft - I think "flight" put it brilliantly
"here is a photo of the Royal Marines practising sneaking up on a totally deaf Russian beach guard..." |
Originally Posted by sandiego89
(Post 11038554)
Incorporate one into an ejection seat, might be handy if you could fly away from the locals after your just delivered some democracy on them.....
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I doubt anyone is going to be keen to sign off that safety case...MCT via traditional insertion is safe for a decade yet me thinks..
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They thought up a lot of bright ideas then - but retrofitting a seat with an engine, blades, electronics that could survive an ejection ......................... maybe in a B-52 or a Hercules.................
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Originally Posted by Asturias56
(Post 11038676)
They thought up a lot of bright ideas then - but retrofitting a seat with an engine, blades, electronics that could survive an ejection ......................... maybe in a B-52 or a Hercules.................
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Originally Posted by Background Noise
(Post 11038531)
Accept it is just a trial but add a bit of body armour and weaponry and I guess you'd need quite a bit more thrust and/or fuel. Switching rapidly from transit mode to fighting mode and back might also be an issue.
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Good marketing by the individual concerned - a quick look at the BBC link shows that he's done it dressed as a paramedic and even a postie. Practical? At least after descending a rope you just have to shake off the gloves; trying to access anything while wearing that clobber (having attracted all that attention while inbound) means you're more likely to be used as a decoy while the other operators gain access by other means. If the target vessel is doing any kind of aggressive manoeuvring, you're far better off getting a Chinook (OK, OK - 2 Chinooks...) on the task.
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Originally Posted by Asturias56
(Post 11038676)
They thought up a lot of bright ideas then - but retrofitting a seat with an engine, blades, electronics that could survive an ejection ......................... maybe in a B-52 or a Hercules.................
https://patents.google.com/patent/US3662978A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US3042347 http://airsoc.com/articles/view/id/5...-ejection-seat Flying a jet fighter can be sometimes tricky, and in some cases, you may need to eject in order to save your life. The ejection seat technique dates back from 1945, and has since been improved to fit all modern jet fighters. But did you know that at some point, they thought about a flying ejection seat ? During the Vietnam War, the US Navy lost over 500 aircraft in combat, as a result of which nearly 200 aircrew became prisoners of war. Alongside them, the US Air Force suffered three times as many aircraft fosses. In every case there were aircrew who had either been killed, captured or were in need of rescue. And while rescuing aircrew from behind enemy lines was given top priority, the challenge was considerable. Dedicated USAF squadrons flying Sikorsky HH-3 ‘Jolly Green Giant’ helicopters, supported by heavily armed, piston-engined Douglas A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft, flew dangerous extraction missions, which, of course, put even greater numbers of aircrew at risk. This prompted the navy and air force to ask, ‘What if downed aircrew had the means to fly themselves back into friendly territory?’ Three different aircraft companies accepted the challenge of coming up with an answer. The results were worthy of a Transformers movie: ejection seats that, on firing their occupant out of a stricken aircraft, unfolded, extended and locked themselves into mini-flying machines. Bell Aerosystems suggested a jet-powered hang-glider that suspended the pilot, face down and still strapped to his seat, beneath it. Fairchild-Hiller also suggested a glider, but theirs was a sort of pop-up machine made of cloth stretched over a spring-loaded metal frame. My favourite is the gyrocopter designed by Kaman Corps. On ejecting, a two-bladed rotor unfurled above the pilot’s head, while a tail and a micro turbofan jet flicked up behind him. And the name given to this invention? Stowable Aircrew Vehicle Escape Roto-seat - or SAVER for short. How practical any of these ideas really were for aircrew disorientated and sometimes injured by the violent act of ejection itself remains a matter for conjecture as none, sadly, made it into service. But that they were dreamt up at all merits a hat tip to the creativity and ingenuity of aircraft designers - and to the importance that the USA attaches to bringing its soldiers home. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6afc00e58.jpeg |
It occurred to me it might balance very naturally. Which ever direction you pitch in it's natural to put your hands out. Wonder if it works that way.
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add a bit of body armour and weaponry and I guess you'd need quite a bit more thrust and/or fuel |
There is only one thing worse than exploring the capabilities of crackpot, nonsensical technologies;
not exploring the capabilities of crackpot, nonsensical technologies. |
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Amazon & Uber Eats will be all over that in 5 years! :p
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Reading some of the above I'm sure cavalry officers in the 1890s were equally dismissive of automobiles, as I suppose prop-jockeys were of jet engines in 1939.
To quote Albert Einstein, "the true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination*". *which in my experience is something the military are not entirely renown for, indeed it is often frowned upon. |
Hi all,
These 'jets' are hand controlled and very sensitive. A normal person can learn to 'fly' with them within a day. What you see on the demos, would take about a week of very intensive training. They are very noisy and (at the moment), very weight limited - for given backpack size fuel as seen. Most if not all demos are over water (safety), and have overlaying music. The heat IR signature would be massive and it's not really that quick and maneuverable. If any Special Forces/SAR want to have them in stock for future use, then a regular training schedule would have to an ongoing thing - Think about the $$$ for Gravity!!? If - IF - a shoulder mounted weapon, directed by a helmet eye pupil could be used and triggered by an additional switch in the jet hand module, then it might be a real option to get an operative onboard a sailing vessel safely, with backup on some sort of RHIB soon to arrive! IMO, until an operator can defend oneself, then the risk to the flyer is enormous. SAR has issues whereby having a trained 'Jet Man', ready to go who can get there (by car or choppered/flown in), and then 'fly' to the injured person. One would have to cost $ and the time factor of a normal SAR team getting there before 'Jet Man' arrives to do his thing... If Mr SAR Jet Man is carrying a bag of medical aid, is this Jet Man medically qualified to help? Gravity has never released any weight-distance-time limits to this AFAIK. Yet the promos have been going for years. Looks great and futuristic, and I'm sure there's going to an 'ideal' situation whereby it would be a great tool for the military and SAR. But when? Considering the units that would have to be sold and the constant on going training... However, IMO for military: If they could get a waist cradle with say 4-6 jets controlled by the head [Think Falcon 9 steerable Titanium fins] Lean the head back and one would go backwards etc), and one's eye could still be looking a target - and the operator could control a weapon freely, then you really do have a Jet Man flying weapon.. Patent Pending - You heard it here first, from me, ok! |
I picture them setting fire to anything they land on, tall grass, oil tankers, plastic/paint. At least they can take off again.
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Until you raise your arm to shoot at someone....
It looks so cool! I'd love to have a go...until the engine stopped. You would have one eye glued to the fuel gauge! |
Originally Posted by Traffic_Is_Er_Was
(Post 11039514)
Until you raise your arm to shoot at someone....
It looks so cool! I'd love to have a go...until the engine stopped. You would have one eye glued to the fuel gauge! |
Or you scratch your bollox..
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mine are called bollocks
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Considering the speed range involved I would tend to believe that a set of high bypass turbofans (one abeam each shoulder) and a set of Reaction Controls (a la Harrier) might be a much better bet than waving around a bundle of fuel sucking mini turbines with each wrist.
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Is this the Fleet Air Arms?
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I'd thought some guy in NZ had demonstrated a reasonable personal rotor liftcraft, with respectable endurance. Not as snazzy as jets on the arms, but apparently fairly practical.
No idea whether it has attracted military interest, as this thread shows, there are lots of reasons not to. |
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Bugger the jetsuit - wot was that beautiful looking black T-bird Harrier he flew past?!!
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In respect to stealth, how would a gaggle(?) of these have fared to prosecute the storming of Osama bin Laden's compound?
Let's agree the boys were dropped off 10k from the compound by conventional craft. Mjb |
Originally Posted by etudiant
(Post 11040647)
I'd thought some guy in NZ had demonstrated a reasonable personal rotor liftcraft, with respectable endurance.
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Originally Posted by flyinkiwi
(Post 11041912)
You mean the Martin Jet Pack. The company closed it's doors in 2019.
Is there any further news as to what caused them to fail? |
Originally Posted by jez d
(Post 11040284)
The more worrying scenario for me is when one of the turbines lets go and punches a hole through the piece of anatomy that it is attached to.
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