If there was ever an example of disruptive technology it would the powered parasail. Seen here, HSP principal Travis Haley and friend appropriately enough, make an entrance into the recent Disruptive Industries program.
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I don’t want to be negative, but I fail to see the significance of this and how it relates to SS, the war fighter, and to the DI program.
Should we expect to see Larry V bungie jumping on fire or Costa swimming with sharks before their next course? 🙂
Now, maybe if the students got to do it…
As I stated before, this is a disruptive technology. With little training, this system can be used to infiltrate over relatively long distances, at decent speed, while avoiding both ground threats and rough terrain. And, it can fly under RADAR. It’s not a parachute and it’s not a plane. It’s something in between. In fact, when this technology was assessed by AFSOC’s 18th FLTS in the mid-90s it was rejected not because it didn’t work, but precisely because it did. The rated officer community felt threatened that a powered aircraft might be ‘flown’ by an enlisted man.
J,
This is not a flashy ride… This type of system is now being employed as a Search and Rescue Platform and used for missing persons/vehicles, surveillance, Grow IDENT as well as a plethora of low cost and efficient applications for S&R and LE.
TH
Wouldn’t such a system be a bit noisy for infiltration missions? From what I remember of seeing these in various videos/shows/movies the engines on those things are more than a little loud and unless they can fly high enough where you wouldn’t really here the engine noise you’d hear it coming from a mile away. The only way that I could see it working for infiltration is to power in to a point then shut the engine off and glide in once you get close enough to hear it coming.
Riceball,
Yes it would be but its not built for infil, although it can climb to 18,000ft and then you can shut down the engine and glide in if you had a correct glide ratio calculation worked out. Like I stated earlier, its a S&R platform.
Hasn’t JSOC been using this for years?
Yes, Not sure if they still are or not but I know we had them at 2d Force Recon back in the late 90’s. They didn’t pan out well and they were heavy and parachutes were horrible. However the technology is a thousand times better now a days.