£340k ‘Iron Man suits’ could give wings to the Marines

ROYAL Marines could be kitted out with Iron Man-style jet suits under plans being considered by the Defence Secretary.

Weighing 60lb, the £340,000 3D-printed suits could one day be used by Marines to assault an enemy ship by flying over the water, sources said.

As he witnessed the kit in action in Portsmouth yesterday, gavin Williamson said he wanted to ‘turbocharge’ the royal Navy so it was modernising faster than its enemies.

He added: ‘our competitors are moving fast – so we need to move faster. We’ve got to be ambitious, we’ve got to be bold, we’ve have to be the revolutionaries. The royal Navy has always been at its best when it has been willing to embrace new technology.’

Mr Williamson announced the service would be handed £75mil

‘It was like riding a bike’

lion for mine-hunting robots and for a new unit called NavyX that will draw in experts to identify cutting-edge drone equipment.

He was briefed on several products that could be bought by the military at QinetiQ’s Portsdown Technology Park. He watched as 23-year-old engineer Alex Wilson, from london, flew in the suit across a patch of grass.

While not as slick as the suits worn by Iron Man robert Downey in the superhero movies, the effect was the similar.

Mr Wilson said the product, built by start-up concern gravity, was ‘like riding a bike’. The suit can go as fast as the human body can stand, about 180mph. It has five kerosene-fuelled micro gas turbines, two attached to each arm and one at the back, and is controlled by body movement.

Sailors will also be given drone mine-hunters to help keep the sea lanes clear.

Mr Williamson imagined a future where the job could be done without endangering the lives of sailors and divers. He added: ‘In many ways it sounds like science fiction. But this is a reality we will make happen.’

He said the world was more perilous, citing threats from terror, mass migration, climate change and ‘aggressor nations’.