Posted on 06/07/2006 5:30:33 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
Elite special forces troops being dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions are to ditch their traditional parachutes in favour of strap-on stealth wings.
The lightweight carbon fibre mono-wings will allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing - making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft can avoid flying anywhere near the target.
The technology was demonstrated in spectacular fashion three years ago when Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner - a pioneer of freefall gliding - famously 'flew' across the English Channel, leaping out of an aircraft 30,000ft above Dover and landing safely near Calais 12 minutes later.
Wearing an aerodynamic suit, and with a 6ft wide wing strapped to his back, he soared across the sea at 220mph, moving six feet forward through the air for every one foot he fell vertically - and opened his parachute 1,000ft above the ground before landing safely.
'Massive potential'
Now military scientists have realised the massive potential for secret military missions.
Currently special forces such as the SAS rely on a variety of parachute techniques to land behind enemy lines - or else they must be dropped by helicopter.
Existing steerable square parachutes can be used - opened at high altitude of 27,000 ft - but jumpers then have to struggle to control them for long periods, often in high winds and extreme cold, while breathing from an oxygen tank to stay alive.
Alternatively they can freefall from high altitude, opening their parachutes at the last possible minute, but that limits the distance they can 'glide' forward from the drop point to just a few miles.
Now German company ESG has developed the strap-on rigid wing specifically for special forces use.
Resembling a 6ft-wide pair of aircraft wings, the devices should allow a parachutist to glide up to 120miles, carrying 200lb of equipment, the manufacturers claim.
Fitted with oxygen supply, stabilisation and navigation aides, troops wearing the wings will jump from a high-altitude transport aircraft which can stay far away from enemy territory - or on secret peacetime missions could avoid detection or suspicion by staying close to commercial airliner flight paths.
The manufacturers claim the ESG wing is '100 per cent silent' and 'extremely difficult' to track using radar.
Once close to their target landing zone, the troops pull their parachute rip cord to open their canopy and then land normally.
Weapons, ammunition, food and water can all be stowed inside the wing, although concealing the 6ft wings after landing could prove harder than burying a traditional parachute.
ESG claims the next stage of development will be fitting 'small turbo-jet drives' to the wings to extend range even further.
According to SAS insiders, very few operational parachute jumps have taken place in recent years, with teams tending to rely more on helicopters or other means of transport.
Supporters of the new mono-wing technology hope it will give a new lease of life to parachute tactics in the special forces world.
The Ministry of Defence would not comment on any equipment used by special forces, but is expected to evaluate the new system for use by UK special forces.
I would think the ramps of C130s or Chinooks will be their primary means, and they're already organic to Special Operations Command.
I was thinking pretty much the same thing. You think maybe that film clip you referred to had anything to do with closing the minds of military people to the idea? I was thinking about how different D-day might have been if they had used these "batwings" instead of those ill-fated gliders to insert our troops behind enemy lines. Of course, back then, they wouldn't have been able to drop our guys from 30,000 ft., but even from 15,000 with a 4:1 glide ratio would have taken them in 10 miles or so, with some safety margin for opening their parachutes.
I envy the special ops guys who get to practice doing this in large formations.
(steely)
My question is how a jumper will manage to exit the aircraft without having his wings snapped off in the slipstream.
"persons with a rare kind of bravery and skill"
We're already training them. My husband and I watched some interesting pieces on the Military Channel this past weekend. All about the guys trying to make it into HALO. They're like SEALS but come from the air not out of the water. You probably know this but let me act like I learned something. HALO = High Altitude Low Open.
Man, I'd like to walk down the streets of NYC with that on so I could enforce my personal space!
Cool.
wonder if a group of them can fly in the "V" formation,
and if the leaders had jet assist, could help the whole
group fly even further?
Wow...they could deliver a suitcase nuke by small parachute
on their opening dive, give it a good long time to detonate, and fly over the
horizon and land in shelter before it goes off. Scary, no?
Straight wings better than delta?I follow you.Maybe too much wind resistance for a straight wing?I imagine the d-wing is stronger too.
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