I caught a segment during this morning's "Today Show" that documented this jump and was blown away by the flight path control these jumpers have. The bald jumper went on to say that he's shooting for a "no parachute" capability with wing suits. Now, as any student pilot knows, a flared landing takes some practice, so you can imagine how tricky arresting a gigantic rate of descent with a wing suit would be - not to mention, unlike powered flight, if you mismanage your energy, you are totally hosed.
But if daredevils can standardize the move, the implications for special operations are tremendous. HALO is sneaky, but it still has a finite vul window. If you never slow down until the end of your landing skid (not rollout), your vul window is basically nil.
Here's a quick look at these dudes playing chicken with Christ. Check it out . . .
It's been done. Check out Yves Rossy, also known as Jet Man. Do a google search for "Jet-man: the incredible flying man." He uses four radio control jet engines and a folding wing. He still lands with a parachute but he covers alot of ground fast. It is loud for military operations but, "big sky, little bullet"
Airborne, All the way
Posted by: Mark at January 10, 2008 02:48 PM
It's only a matter of time until someone takes this concept one step further, and makes ram air wings on these suits. I can imagine several different attach points and foil configurations - not to necessarily achieve a no-chute landing, but to slow rate of descent, increase wing (and thus lift) area, etc.
Posted by: Thom at December 29, 2007 06:33 PM
I see a whole new subindustry to Sky Diving:
WingSuiting-
Wow.
Wild,& Yes I can Bond use one.
Did HALO in Tomorrow Never Dies (pre wing suits).
He would use one now.
A whole new Sport.
Diving sites can be same for skydiving.
Now add mini rocketpack IE One can become "The Rocketeer " from 1991 movie.
Great for Spec Ops.
PD SWAT use
Gen Public.
& for Air shows.
Now do stunt from 20K feet.
Whew.
Posted by: stephen russell at December 28, 2007 11:09 PM
Actually,I do think that the "James Bond" sled is a better idea than waiting in a plane with the added weight of wings attached to your parachute kit(not to mention the room the wings would take up),plus the added weight of a compressed air bottle or whatever would be used for "jet propulsion",all on top of the parachute you'd be wearing & everything else you'd have to carry with you.
Posted by: Roy Smith at December 27, 2007 06:33 PM
I think the wing suit will be great for the HALO guys. The LZ will be even farther from the drop plane - reducing even more the possibility of detection. The increased target radius will also increase uncertainty for the defenders. To me this additional free-fall horizontal range appears to be the main advantage. Other proposals - strap on wings (maybe with jets), or James Bond's Switchblade winged sled, all have hardware that may provide significant radar returns, or at the least will be harder to dispose of or conceal once on the ground.
I do not however envision landing with these things, but still using a ram-air in LO. I also have some questions about the use of the wingsuit by SOP persons concerning the gear they're carrying.
Posted by: nb at December 27, 2007 11:16 AM
Steven, exoarmor doesn't solve the infiltration problem.
But yeah, to deploy this thing you need a GPS guided version to put a weapons container on target and hope your guys get to the weapons before the enemy.
Posted by: Charlie Seto at December 27, 2007 10:56 AM
Hey, how about we strap a luge/skeleton sled on our dudes and just have them land like planes? That's safe, right?
On a more serious note, with autonomous tech as capable as it is, I'd imagine that spec ops/spec war guys could jump with their gear attached to some small UAV that follows them on their way down.
Posted by: Dan at December 27, 2007 10:56 AM
I Have two questions? First I saw two videos,the first one,an individual had a fixed wing type apparatus(not sure what it was made of) attached to his chute bag(or whatever you call it since I was never airborne or a sky diver) on his back that he used for crossing the English Channel before he pulled his chute & landed.The second video,a German had a type of bottle on his chute bag on his back that he used for temporary propulsion,like a mini jet engine,before he pulled his chute & landed.Could a combination of the two devices mentioned above benefit a small Spec Ops team infiltrating an area where they wouldn't want the plane they were flying in,or jumping from,detected? A wing suit would seem too weak to accomplish that.
Posted by: Roy Smith at December 27, 2007 04:29 AM
Squirrel suits have been around awhile. They offer nothing of use to special forces. Strapping 100+lbs of gear to a soldier would make the suit useless, and a sudden stop like a last second chute pull all the more dangerous, physically. There is no practical way to land these sans chute, even without all the combat gear. The military is far better off researching personalized mobile armor suits, like in the mecha universe, or even a nano-muscle suit like in the game Crysis. Technologies like these are not all that far away. Exo-suits that perfectly mimic human movement and increase strength many fold are already out there. They are only impractical because of fuel requirements or bulk. I find it hard to believe that within 10-15 years we won't see these suits on the field of battle, if not in a logistics role.
A special forces soldier in such a suit armed with an under slung shotgun/grenade launcher/whatever and a shoulder mounted XM312 .50 cal would be worth an entire division. The ability to take the benefits/features of an armored vehicle and wrap them around the individual soldier is indeed a game changer and where I'd like to see more money spent, even though a lot is being spent now.
Posted by: Steven at December 26, 2007 09:12 PM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tqW6O_dcF2M
More wing suit action
Posted by: Paul at December 26, 2007 08:40 PM
Wow thanks! I’m a regular reader and enjoy your work. Keep it up!
Posted by: Billy R. at December 26, 2007 05:02 PM
Wingsuits have typical glide slopes of 2.5 to 1. Aerodynamically, they are more like rocks than airplanes. I don't think you can land such a thing safely unless it's done on a steep downward slope. At least one famous flyer who is working on a wingsuit landing says he needs to spend millions on a specially prepared landing site. This doesn't sound very promising for spec ops.
Posted by: robbie1687 at December 26, 2007 04:04 PM
I ran into a program n TV about five months ago. A fellow strapped two small turbofan motors on his legs, a gallon of fuel, and he "flew" quite a distance.
I forget exactly what he was trying to accomplish, I think he was trying to break a record of sorts. I think it may have been his own "flight" distance record.
I think the technology has a lot of potential for Special Forces.
Of course the problem for them has always been one of getting out, not in.....
Posted by: Dennis at December 26, 2007 03:37 PM
Since this looks like something outta the Wiley Coyote School of Improbable Research, maybe they ought to look at a set of airbags like the Mars rovers used. Failing that, maybe a couple of AIM-9 motors strapped to their legs.... Or, a ginormous spring to cushion the landing that goes "Sproing!" out of a fanny pack the instant before impact... I mean touchdown.
Wow, talk about your energy management problems! What's the glide ratio and descent rate for this kinda thing? Slightly better than a gut-shot goose? How many gees would the chowderhead pull trying to flare this to a running stop?
Seriously, it might have some practical application in increasing the slant range for the SOCOM boys on a HALO... but using a 'chute for the last few hundred feet. Even if their glide ratio was only about 1:1 that would give perfectly good airplane they jumped from a standoff of around 7 miles at 35k/ft. Get that to 3:1 and you have SEALS dry-foot from int'l airspace offshore. Interesting....
There was always something in that damned coyote's plans that made me think "well... maybe."
Cheers,
Chief B.
Posted by: Crusty Old Chief at December 26, 2007 01:55 PM
I believe they often attach a seperate bag on a line to the trooper, might not be able to do that with a wingsuit.
I guess it's back to Fallschirmjaeger style parachuting of containers...don't let those containers fall into the hands of the enemy!
Posted by: Charles at December 26, 2007 10:58 AM
Wonder if you can get that kind of control in a trooper who is also carrying 100+ lbs of gear?
Thom,
It's been done. Check out Yves Rossy, also known as Jet Man. Do a google search for "Jet-man: the incredible flying man." He uses four radio control jet engines and a folding wing. He still lands with a parachute but he covers alot of ground fast. It is loud for military operations but, "big sky, little bullet"
Airborne, All the way
Posted by: Mark at January 10, 2008 02:48 PM