Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, March 15 (Reporter Hu Dingkun) In the world-famous game "Red Alert 2", there was a very peculiar class of troops. They carried rocket backpacks, armed with automatic weapons, could fly alone, and were able to slaughter. Ground troops lacking anti-aircraft firepower-this is the "rocket pilot"!
Now, this sci-fi idea is about to move from the game to reality.
A few days ago, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued a tender for technical solutions such as jetpacks, powered gliders, and powered wing suits that can allow soldiers to fly, hoping to create a "portable individual flying system."
According to DARPA, the system can use electric propulsion, hydrogen fuel cells or traditional propulsion technology to build power plants; it must carry a single soldier with a range of at least 5 kilometers; at the same time, it should have excellent stealth, with minimal noise and infrared radiation; and convenient It is easy to carry and deploy by individual soldiers. With only simple tools or no tools at all, you can complete equipment assembly and other flight preparations in less than 10 minutes; the operation is simple, and soldiers without any relevant experience only need to go through a short period of time. Time training can learn to use.
DARPA plans to divide the project into two phases. The first phase is a feasibility study; the second phase will select key technical solutions, conduct further analysis and related tests, and finally conduct ground and flight tests.
The agency will provide funding support for the first-phase bid-winning program for a period of six months with a total of 225,000 US dollars, and for the second-phase related programs, it will provide a maximum of two years and a maximum of 1.5 million US dollars in funding.
DARPA believes that related equipment can be used for logistics services, urban operations, maritime interception, special operations infiltration, combat search and rescue and other combat tasks. It can be deployed in the air to penetrate into hostile areas, or deployed on the ground to achieve greater cross-country. Mobility can partially replace the combat functions of existing vertical take-off and landing aircraft and helicopters.
At the same time, it can also be used by the police, search and rescue personnel, first-aid personnel, etc., and can even be used in daily transportation, entertainment and other fields.
It is reported that DARPA is not the only one who wants to build a "rocket pilot".
The British Navy is testing a jetpack, the price of a single backpack is about 440,000 US dollars.
As early as 2016, the US Special Operations Command signed a research and development agreement with related companies and jointly trained the "Sea Leopards" to use jetpacks.