One Day The Skies Will Be Choked With Drunk Dudes Wearing Jet Packs
I have seen the future and it is raining men
The U.S. spends billions every year inventing gadgets for the battlefield that eventually ends up in the hands of private businesses. Here are a few examples of that relationship: duct tape, microwave ovens, and GPS.
And, fairly soon, we’ll be able to add jet packs to the list. One day, you’ll watch two grown beer-soaked men wearing personal rockets crash into each other midair and explode. Finally, my dreams are coming true.
The Pentagon is looking for a few good mad scientists to build a “portable personal air mobility system.” They’re paying cash money, too. $1.5 million to the best proposal. That’s right, Uncle Sam wants to fund crazy jet pack ideas.
According to Interesting Engineering, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is hot for tech that can zip soldiers into and out of battlefields. DARPA is the legendary US military R&D brain trust that cooks up cutting-edge tech (the internet is one of theirs.)
DARPA wants “jetpacks, powered gliders, powered wingsuits, and powered parafoils” with “simplified operations in mind so that someone unfamiliar with the platform could be educated in its safe and effective use with relatively…
