Cool video. Neat idea but not very stealthy. Yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
Neat idea but not very stealthy.

Neither is driving a speedboat up alongside, or hovering a helicopter above.

Seems cool, as the first step in development of new technology/techniques. But as it stands, these jet suits require the use of bulky thrusters strapped onto both hands. Unless they get to a point where the suit is set up to allow them to shed those hand thrusters and retrieve a weapon rapidly, it's not going to be the best idea for potentially hostile boardings, compared to something like fast-roping where once onboard you can get into the fight to defend yourself quickly.

Could still be potentially useful currently for something like rapidly getting a medical specialist onboard to stabilize a casualty.

Wouldn’t take much to repel somebody trying to board your boat like that. A shot gun would be very effective. Hit any piece of that jet pack, let alone the soldier and they are effectively fucked

I'm thinking pizza delivery.

Jet packs have been around for years. For whatever reason they've never been in common use with the military. Maybe newer technology can change that.

<<insert Six Million Dollar Man noise>>[

So will it be the UK military or the Somali pirates who make first practical use of these jet packs?

The Capt. Phillips incident would have gone a lot differently if the crew had a few shotguns aboard.

Remember first seeing jet packs in the 1965 Bond Movie Thunderball thought it was the coolest thing in the world.... Now 55 years later it's still cool.



I was over by VTails hanger a while back and one of the guys had a Jet Pack in his Hanger...Said it was a really short flight, you couldn't go too far because it burned fuel fast..

Freakin' English - fling a Scotsman at a battleship and expect miracles.

Its cool. But... Lets say you overshoot / undershoot the target and run out of fuel. Wouldnt its weight sink your ass right to the bottom?

I was just talking to a friend in San Diego about this!

Both SBS and our SEALs are playing around with the jet-packs, seeing if there's any military usage for these. Similar to when they played around doing airborne insertions wearing sky diving 'squirrel suits', at issue was they couldn't carry much gear.

Having a guy get onboard and deploy a few cable ladders is a huge help, clearly there's vulnerabilities though, esp if the ship is aware or familiar with repelling boarders. I'm thinking of skeet shooting

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Its cool. But... Lets say you overshoot / undershoot the target and run out of fuel. Wouldnt its weight sink your ass right to the bottom?

That’s what I was thinking. It might work for certain situations but it seems like you’re basically an easier to hit clay pigeon to anyone who doesn’t want you aboard.

Wonder how easy or difficult it is to control those thrust nozzles with the hands and arms. They must put out a lot of thrust pressure in order to maneuver around like that. I had a little difficulty once when I tried using a small fire hose.

I have a bit of experience boarding ships at sea and can say this is a great idea from a search and rescue standpoint but not for law enforcement. At least until they figure out how to do it with a weapon in your hand(s) and have the ability to defend yourself while incoming.

Can’t count how many times it was too rough to come alongside another boat or ship and wished I had a trained crew member already onboard.

One case we were in 20+ foot seas near a shoal and had to take an anchored sailboat into tow. Two elderly people with their 12 year old grandson were onboard and none were physically capable of receiving our towline. Had to put a crew member over. In those conditions this would have been ideal.

Think HALO but no parachute. Just this jet pack to slow/stop your decent ala Ironman.

After watching that video, anybody else wonder how many times they fished ole fly boy out of the drink before they got that one right?

I can't help but think "clay pigeon" , while watching this. Looks like a death sentence.... but it does look cool !!

Question for our experts; Web says the Royal Marines carry the SA-80 bullpup rifle. Guys in the RIB seem to be carrying AR pattern rifles.

What's going on?

The L85/SA-80 has been (or is in the final process of being) phased out in the Royal Marines as a whole, in favor of the L119 which is a Canadian-made AR.

And the various British special operations troops in particular have been using ARs for a while now, so if the guys in the video are Royal Marine Commandos specifically, it may not even be that new of an addition.

Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
The L85/SA-80 has been (or is in the final process of being) phased out in the Royal Marines as a whole, in favor of the L119 which is a Canadian-made AR.

And the various British special operations troops in particular have been using ARs for a while now, so if the guys in the video are Royal Marine Commandos specifically, it may not even be that new of an addition.

Probably S.B.S. (Special Boat Service) the Royal Marine equivalent of the better known S.A.S.