{"id":88076,"date":"2022-11-25T19:57:31","date_gmt":"2022-11-26T01:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=88076"},"modified":"2022-11-25T19:57:31","modified_gmt":"2022-11-26T01:57:31","slug":"88076","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=88076","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pentagon is moving ahead with new military jetpack prototypes<\/a><\/p>\n

The Defense Department\u2019s chief tech visionaries are once again attempting to make the U.S. military\u2019s dream of jetpack-equipped infantry troops a reality through a pair of fresh contracts, Task & Purpose has learned.<\/p>\n

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected \u201cseveral\u201d small companies to receive Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding awards \u201cto build flight test prototypes\u201d for the agency\u2019s Portable Personal Air Mobility System program, a DARPA spokesman said.<\/p>\n

Details regarding the contracts were not immediately available, but Phase II SBIR program funding \u201cgenerally\u201d consists of $750,000 for two years,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to information on the program\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cDARPA is currently working with the small companies to finalize contracting details and award contracts, so at this time we can\u2019t discuss the specifics,\u201d the DARPA spokesman said.<\/p>\n

DARPA officially\u00a0announced<\/a> in March 2021 that the agency\u2019s small business programs office was looking for proposals \u201cfor cost of up to $225,000 for a 6-month period of performance\u201d regarding the \u201cfeasibility\u201d of the Portable Personal Air Mobility System that could reach ranges of \u201cat least\u201d 5 kilometers on the battlefield for a single operator.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome examples of technologies of interest include jetpacks, powered glides, powered swimsuits, and powered parafoils which could leverage emerging electric propulsion technologies, hydrogen fuel cells or conventional heavy propulsion systems,\u201d DARPA\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0in its initial notice.<\/p>\n

\"jetpack
A test pilot from Jetpack Aviation tests the company\u2019s JB-10 system. (Jetpack Aviation)<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prospective platforms \u201ccould serve a variety of military missions, enabling cost-effective mission utility and agility in areas such as personnel logistics, urban augmented combat, [combat search and rescue], Maritime interdiction and SOF Infil\/Exfil,\u201d DARPA\u00a0wrote<\/a>. \u201cSystems 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 [Osprey tiltrotor aircraft].\u201d<\/p>\n

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The success or failure of the prospective unnamed prototypes could decide whether DARPA moves forward with the Portable Personal Air Mobility System program, according to the agency, which stated in its initial notice that Phase II would culminate in \u201ca ground and\/or flight test effort that establishes the viability of an operational version of the proposed system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pursuit of a militarized jetpack is nearly as old as the\u00a0American military\u2019s obsession with powered armor<\/a>. In the late 1950s, the Army awarded a contract to Bell Aerosystems to develop the Small Rocket Lift Device (SRLD), which became more commonly known as the \u201cRocket Belt.\u201d Initially developed by engineer Wendell F. Moore, test pilot Harold M. Graham ended up demonstrating the rocket belt with a short powered flight for President John F. Kennedy at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in October 1961 before the program was canceled.<\/p>\n

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