Sorry bro...but you said the Special Forces were interested.
Department of Defense procurement poags are not the same thing.
They were your words....not Time's.
The only people in DoD who will approve purchases for Special Forces are those dedicated to Special Forces procurement. In this case, few people were allowed to see the device and quantities are limited, so DoD most likely sent *only* representatives from Special Forces procurement.
The Special Forces are interested in almost anything - high or low tech -- that helps them move and do their job. Quiet is preferable to noisy. Horses, skis, motorcycles and obviously a future military version of this. I don't know how that would surprise anyone that's ever worn a uniform.
Put it this way, if our SpecOps people weren't interested in stuff like this, they would be no better than Marine grunts.