Friday, December 4, 2009

Awesome Military Technology-- Stealth Wingsuits

If learning to become a one-man killing machine wasn't awesome enough, Special Forces soldiers will soon be gliding through the sky at 60 mph in those badass wingsuits pictured above.  Oh yeah, and they'll be invisible to radar.

A group of German companies with expertise in parachute systems have joined forces to create the Gryphon Next Generation Parachute System. Designed for high altitude jumps, the Gryphon has a 6-foot wingspan and a glide ratio of 5:1, meaning that a solider can glide up to 30 miles in the air—60 if they go ahead with plans to add a small engine...

There's one major problem-- landing.  Skydivers and daredevils using similar technology must deploy a traditional parachute in order to return to Earth in one piece, BUT in order to get the most out of the stealth capability, it would be necessary to develop a way for soldiers to return safely to the ground using the wings alone.

Seriously, though, how sweet does that look?  I'm a little skeptical of the stealthiness since the bulky rendering looks like it would have the radar signature of a 50 gallon drum... *shrugs*  Plus, if these suits did have engines, then people would literally get shot with heat seeking missiles... Just some food for thought.

[Link: Gizmodo]

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