French Inventor
Soars Above Crowds in Paris
Soars Above Crowds in Paris
Totes Rifle While Flying Turbine-Powered Flyboard
at Bastille Day Celebrations
European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron were
treated to a demonstration of the Flyboard Air, a sort of gas
turbine-powered jet-pack/hover-board/flying platform originally invented
by jet-ski champ Franky Zapata, during Bastille Day festivities in Paris
on Sunday.
Jet-powered Flyboard
Steals Show at Bastille Day
Military Parade in France
President Emmanuel Macron said he was “proud" or the "innovative” French army after seeing the flyboard designed by Franky Zapata
Zapata carried what certainly appeared to be an
unloaded rifle (or a replica of such) as he flew over French military
forces parading down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées with the flags of
the European Intervention Initiative, a strategic coordination pact
between 10 countries.
In a clip posted by France2, Macron somehow
manages to appear completely nonchalant about this whole thing:
Uh, does this remind anyone else of something?
According to France24,
Zapata appears to have carried the rifle in part due to interest in the
Flyboard’s potential military applications. French Armed Forces
Minister Florence Parly told France Inter radio that the device “can
allow tests for different kinds of uses, for example as a flying
logistical platform or, indeed, as an assault platform,” according to
the news network. Zapata also said in 2017 that he was working with the U.S. military on the device for combat applications.
There are longstanding and well-known engineering issues that have prevented conventional jet-packs from becoming more than sideshow novelties that also happen to be extremely expensive to operate, with rare exceptions.
Those include the large amount of energy necessary to sustain flight,
the difficulty of controlling the craft, and the obvious safety issues
inherent in strapping a powerful jet engine to someone’s back.
A September 2018 look at Zapata’s work with the U.S. military in the Drive
noted his variant, which is a flying platform, had solved some of those
issues by introducing seven computer-controlled jet turbines that send
flight data to a tablet-sized display as well as “built-in redundancies
and automatic compensation if one of the jet engines fails.” Zapata
advertises a custom-tooled version called the Fly-EZ as ideal for military purposes
ranging from naval personnel transfers and routine ground patrols to
actual combat insertions and “denied area penetration.” According to the
Drive, the craft can carry up to 280 pounds, fly at 80 miles per hour
for up to 12 minutes, and attain altitudes of 9,000 feet, though not
necessarily at the maximum load. (France24 cited different specifications for the one used in the demonstration at a maximum speed of 118 miles per hour for 10 minutes )
However,
the Drive noted that it would still be extremely expensive to equip
troops with the system (with a prospective price of $250,000 apiece) and
doesn’t solve other issues that came up in prior military inquiries
into jet-packs. Those include noise that would disrupt stealth
operations, leaving the operator entirely exposed to enemy fire with
limited-at-best options for retaliation, and the fact that helicopters
can already transport troops and materiel en masse at much longer ranges
and duration. That doesn’t rule out their use in all
scenarios - examples could include kitting out military bases for
rapid-response teams or use in disaster relief operations - but it does
remain to be seen whether the Fly-board will ever be broadly adopted by
armed forces.
Uh, does this remind anyone else of something?
- https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/14/jet-powered-flyboard-steals-show-at-bastille-day-military-parade
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