Jet pack ‘game changer’ for the Royal Navy
DRAMATIC video footage shows a Royal Marine using a jet pack developed by a Wiltshire technology company to board a Royal Navy ship in an exercise near the south coast.
The head of the Navy has said that the kit was “game-changing” as he shared film of the exercise on Twitter.
It shows the Marine in a jet suit taking off from a fast rib and flying across the sky to land neatly on the deck of patrol ship HMS Tamar.
The full footage shows him throwing down a ladder so that his colleagues can board the ship.
The Marines would otherwise have been forced to use a helicopter, with one person coming down a rope at a time - a much slower and more vulnerable operation.
First Sir Lord Admiral Tony Radakin tweeted: “As the Royal Navy embraces technology and innovation, HMS Tamar trials the latest game-changing kit with the Royal Marines.”
Salisbury-based jet suit developer Gravity Industries has been working with the Royal Navy on the project.
The brains behind the kit is Richard Browning, a 42-year-old former oil trader with BP.
It has previously been tested by paramedics in the remote and rugged Lake District to reach people in danger or distress in a fraction of the time it would take to travel by car or on foot.
The Royal Navy has been working with Gravity Industries for a while. A ‘rocket man’ wearing a jet pack buzzed carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth during an exercise in the United States two years ago.
HMS Tamar recently left A&P yard in Falmouth with a new “dazzle” design of irregular grey shapes to break up her outline - a nod to the warships which adopted the painting scheme during the World Wars.
The news comes as the Royal Marines announced a new Commandant General.
Lieutenant General Robert Magowan succeeds Major General
Matt Holmes as the most senior officer in the corps.
Lt Gen Magowan takes charge as the Royal Marines embrace new technologies and tactics, and lay down plans to be a constant presence in strategically important areas of the world as part of the Future Commando Force.
“For centuries the Royal Marines have gone about their business, doing the hard yards with an understated courage and pride,” Lt Gen Magowan said.
“To be amongst them, a part of them, encouraging them to go a bit further, climb a bit higher, is a tremendous personal honour for me, and it always will be.”
HMS Tamar trials the latest gamechanging kit with the Royal Marines TONY RADAKIN