Bell Aerosystems has been building U.S. military helicopters for years now, but in 1967, they pitched something way outside of the box that they believed would revolutionise warfare as the world knew it – we’re just surprised they weren’t laughed off the scene altogether. Yes –you’ve got it from the title – they suggested that soldiers enter battle via jetpacks, and there are some illustrations that show what this might look like.
According to their plans, Bell Aerosystems thought providing the U.S. Army with a whole family of jet turbine systems would give them a strong competitive advantage, completely disregarding how easy a target these men would be to shoot down by the opposing side. The idea was recovered in a briefing report where the jetpack initiative was entitled “Light Mobility Systems Missions” (catchy!). They drew up sci-fi inspired concepts from single, backpack-style jetpacks strapped to soldiers to platforms that could carry two passengers and go at speeds of up to 100mph.
Bell Aerosystems suggested that jetpack soldiers could go ahead of their units to locate enemy whereabouts and give commanders the time they needed to make the necessary plan of action.
An extract of the Bell Aerosystems report said: “This system is capable of operating over a greater distance in less time than is possible with the ground reconnaissance patrol. It would provide a more responsive means of determining and verifying intelligence which cannot be obtained as rapidly by higher-level resources. Included are missions such as providing point and flank security for moving elements.”
Of course, this is somewhat delusional thinking as we are sure just about everyone would notice a flying soldier peeping on their camp, but we’re not the experts – hey?!
Unsurprisingly, the U.S. generals never bought into the compelling concept of LMS, even with the infinite funds they had for national defence back in 1967 (two and a half times the budgets they have today!). And it’s apparent why when you read it.
In almost every depiction of the soldiers with jetpacks, they seem rather exposed to enemy fire, purely because of how low the soldiers were to the ground – further emphasising the first weakness of LMS by highlighting them as the primary targets. In the Vietnam war, the U.S. lost 5,607 helicopters which just goes to show how vulnerable low target aircrafts were.
The report also emphasised another weakness: soldiers would have to carry weapons that had minimal recoil. Although, they never mention why, we can only assume it was so the soldiers didn’t spin out of control.
And, not to be forgotten, the jetpacks would need a lot of fuel for limited flight times, rendering them pretty useless on the battlefield.
Nevertheless, Bell Aerosystem believed these jetpacks would be the next big thing for U.S. warfare. They even suggested them as a way for getting propaganda out there, with aerial loudspeakers fitted to the machines. These loudspeakers could also be a way to distract adversaries as the Americans were sometimes known to play music on the battlefield to confuse their enemies.
The versatility of the jetpack was demonstrated in a two page illustration, showing the vast imaginations of the Bell Aerosystems’ inventors, who believed they had invented the ‘it’ tool for all future warfare. Well, we’ll have to wait and see on that one…
You can view the illustrations here.
Would you enter a skirmish, airsoft rifle in hand, via jet-pack? Let us know!
Image credit: Steve Jurvetson
Jetpacked Soldiers Could Have Been a Thing
Search
Recent Comments
- Ben Austin on Problem with your air gun or airsoft gear? We can help!
- Dan K on Problem with your air gun or airsoft gear? We can help!
- Dan K on Brand Profile: AGM
- David Robinson on Problem with your air gun or airsoft gear? We can help!
- Steve on Brand Profile: AGM
Archives
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
Categories
- Air Guns (105)
- Air Pistol (58)
- Air Rifle (96)
- Airsoft (253)
- Ammunition (13)
- Archery (10)
- BB Guns (40)
- Blank Firing Guns (1)
- Body Armour (13)
- Charlize Theron
- Clothing (17)
- CO2 Air Pistol (9)
- Deactivated Guns (7)
- Equipment & Accessories (15)
- Events (20)
- Film (41)
- Gaming (18)
- Grenades (3)
- Help Guide (68)
- History (88)
- James Bond (12)
- Knives (31)
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Military (108)
- New Arrivals (15)
- News (182)
- Paintball (4)
- Pellet Gun (4)
- Quiz (1)
- Replica Guns (17)
- Spy Guns (8)
- Surplus Store (105)
- Survival (31)
- Target Shooting (17)
- Throwing Knives (3)
- Tom Hardy
- TV (9)
- Uncategorized (24)
- Video (23)
- Video Games (2)
- Zombies (9)