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Posted on 03/13/2019 10:31:41 AM PDT by Red Badger
"Why risk a helicopter and crew when it is possible to insert operators by swarm?" JetPack Aviation asks, using this concept art to illustrate just such an insertion. (JetPack Aviation)
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The 20th century was rough on cavalry. While the age of battlefield dominance by horse-borne fighters had long since passed, scouting and charging from horseback remained a part of warfare, especially irregular warfare; that is until trenches, barbed wire, machine guns and armored vehicles rendered that use for horses mostly irrelevant.
Cavalry regiments traded in their mounts for armored vehicles, and for the most part the dream of nimble fast scouts or special forces traveling close to the ground was left to motorcycles, if anything.
But what if, instead of a familiar style of vehicle that can run on fuel found most anywhere, there was a new kind of flying machine, specifically targeted at the military? What if it was a jet bike?
That’s the bold promise from JetPack Aviation, a startup that launched preorders for recreational versions of a flying personal vehicle in March 2019.
The preorder form states that only 20 of the vehicles will be sold on the recreational market, with production beyond that dedicated to military and government customers. The company prices its vehicles at $380,000 each, with a preorder buy-in of $10,000. The preorder page, which autoplays a video of a computer rendering of the speeder, does not indicate whether a prototype model of the aircraft has ever flown. It notes, instead, that “the Speeder is not yet a type certified aircraft. It will initially operate in the Ultralight and Experimental categories.”
Jetpack Aviation has previously made a flying machine, though as the company name suggests, that one is a jetpack. In November 2015, the company released a video of a jetpack flight around Ellis Island. Of the 38 videos on JetPack Aviation’s YouTube page, the Speeder is featured in just one. The company listed the Ellis Island jetpack as having a top speed of 100 mph, a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet and a total flight time of 10 minutes.
With the Speeder, the company has upped the numbers on all categories. With four engines (five in the military version) powered by kerosene or diesel, the Speeder is listed as having a top speed that exceeds 150 mph, a ceiling of more than 15,000 feet and a flight time of 20 minutes.
The specifications for the military concept expand the flight time to possibly 30 minutes, and include the option to fly autonomously. The military model, as sketched out, would also be able to use Jet A fuel.
Speeders will announce their presence with all the subtlety and volume of an ambulance siren, thanks to a sound profile estimated at 120 decibels while flying at or below 10 feet.
On noisy, crowded battlefields, that’s less of a concern than for a unit attempting to move discreetly, but it still necessitates the trade-off between using hearing protection and being able to communicate with the rest of the unit. (For one point of comparison, as recently as 2017, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency explored a hybrid electric motorcycle for special operations forces that was 75 decibels on fuel, 55 on electric, and was built on an existing motorcycle that retailed at about $15,000).
Loud and short flights drastically limit what military roles could be performed by those riding Speeders. Flying 50 miles in 20 minutes is impressive, but less so when the vehicle must refuel at the other end. It’s a fun concept, though the utility is somewhat harder to fathom.
Autonomous resupply is the far likelier use for a Speeder. The maximum weight capacity of the concept vehicle is 250 pounds, including pilot, so think more super-fast mule than futuristic scouts or Speeder-mounted cavalry.
If it’s underwhelming to remove a military hoverbike from Star Wars-esque pursuit scenes and use it for practical and mundane logistical work, know that it’s also not unique. That’s the same path followed by Malloy Aeronautics, a company that made a personal transportation prototype aimed it at the commercial market, but then attracted military attention with a fanciful flying motorcycle, only to see it pursued primarily as battlefield resupply.
As the Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle, the Malloy Aeronautics hoverbike is aimed at autonomously carrying between 300 and 600 pounds at 60 mph with a run time of 90 minutes and an operational range of 70 miles. Battlefield resupply is the use case, second only to medical evacuation, where the quick transport of small payloads is of tremendous importance.
To the extent that military development of the Malloy hoverbike provides a way to get blood, bullets and food to troops otherwise unable to resupply, a Speeder-like jet bike that can do some of the same mission but faster could carve a niche within the niche.
The limitation of a 25-mile range for return trips can be offset somewhat by delivery just 10 minutes after launch. A one-way mission to get supplies or a medic to troops 50 miles away, with the understanding that the Speeder will be abandoned and scrapped if it cannot be refueled in place, could be an option commanders like having on hand, though perhaps not ideal at a mid-six-figures price point.
For the Speeder to reach that niche within a niche, it will need more than the kind of flashy concept videos that woo Silicon Valley investors. It will take working prototypes, a clear statement of the mission and use case, and a willingness to go through a longer military evaluation process should armed services show interest. There is no amount of speed that can bypass a narrow range of usefulness.
Version 1.2:
They can probably have them spin out of control on sharp turns, that’s what they can do with them.
Want to know what they can do? Watch “The Island”.
“I don’t even know what a snow blower looks like!.................”
Just like a jet bike except totally different.
Now THAT’S an impressive landing!!!
Here's one! You can clear my driveway with it! [14" snow in Newcastle Wyo so far this week]
When I was an Airframe & Powerplant mechanic for an airline that best shall remain nameless, I got dragged off by one of my bosses to a press conference on an airport accident, since I was a former [then] newspaperman and it was thought I'd be able to keep the stupid members of the press pointed in the wrong direction.
The NTSB guy gave a pretty fair description on what their initial investigation's *go-team* was looking at, and why the complete report wasn't likely to be finalized for around a year and a half. Our station manager gave a report on how our operations might be affected, and our maintenance director described how more frequent/more intensive inspections might or might not catch a forthcoming problem. I thought they had it pretty well covered. and all I was going to have to do was keep my mouth shut and look pretty. Nope!
There was one bubbleheaded TV newsgal who just didn't get it, and kept asking everyone how quickly a preliminary cause could be determined. I'd had it, and if the other panelists were trying to be nice and not embarass her, I wasn't being paid for that. So I answered:
*Why would we want to do that?*
She was stunned. Eventually, she came back with:
If you know what caused it, you can keep it from happening again...Can't you?*
To which I said:
Not necessarily. Besides, we already know the cause of the incident. [Oh. how she wanted that magic word *crash!*]
Now she had it! A cover up! So she asked:
Well, then, what caused it?
To which I happily gave my drawn out, one-word reply:
GRRRAAVVVITY.....
And all her colleagues and co-workers laughed at her....
News reporters! Is there anything they don’t know?
LOL
Let me check with my sources, and I'll get right back to you on that....
LOL
After too much from CNN and MSNBC (as reported - I don’t watch them) and local liberal news stations I’m terribly cynical these days.
And then you have “veteran reporters” like Bob Schieffer and Lester Holt......
Oh, let’s not forget Jeopardy! champion Wolf Blitzer......
The final episode with Starbuck and the Cylon was pretty good..
Man you must have reached the end of the internet with that video. Lol
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