JetPack Aviation’s Speeder VTOL (vertical take-off and landing), has been selected by the highly competitive AFWERX High Speed VTOL (HSVTOL) Concept Challenge, launched in a joint partnership by the U.S. Air Force (USAF), and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
JetPack Aviation is one of just three original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) included in 35 successful challengers, selected from a total of 218 submissions.
Initial presentations to highlight the capabilities of the Speeder, and its potential applications for military operations, are being made to the AFWERX representatives this week.
Looking to satisfy mission profiles including the infiltration and exfiltration of Special Operations Forces (SOF), personnel recovery, aeromedical evacuation, and tactical mobility, at jet-type speeds, the HSVTOL Concept is ideally suited to the JetPack Aviation Speeder VTOL.
Powered by small, gimballed turbojet engines, the Speeder promises to reach speeds approaching 300mph, with unprecedented payload capability currently available only from considerably larger helicopter airframes.
(JetPack Aviation introduces The Speeder. Their new vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicle is reportedly fully stabilized and is smaller, faster, and easier to fly than any other aircraft in its class. Courtesy of JetPack Aviation and YouTube.)
Building on engine thrust vectoring and control technology pioneered and proven on the JetPack, JetPack Aviation’s Speeder is a multi-mission, jet-powered VTOL platform designed for demanding EMS, medevac, firefighting, humanitarian, and military missions.
Its compact size enables transport in a car or motorcycle trailer, with preparations for flight taking just a few minutes. The Speeder is therefore always available and mission ready, even in conditions that would ground a helicopter.
The Speeder’s footprint is also considerably reduced since it has no rotors, ducted fans, or propellers which reduces/negates the need for specific ground infrastructure.
“The USAF and USSOCOM are seeking ground-breaking ideas that will further strengthen operational effectiveness and efficiency in contested, resource-constrained, and runway-independent settings,” explains Reid Melville, Chief Innovation Officer, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Transformational Capabilities Office at the HSVTOL Concept Challenge Launch on May 5th.
Those who progress through the challenge rounds may become eligible for funding associated with research, development, and testing, and subsequently procurement contracts to produce and field aircraft to the USAF.
“We are extremely proud to have been invited to participate in the AFWERX Challenge,” said David Mayman, CEO of JetPack Aviation.
“It demonstrates that developing the Speeder concept to deliver immediate, multi-purpose applications is relevant to today’s military forces.
“Selection for AFWERX is notoriously difficult and we can’t wait to showcase the versatile, scalable, capabilities of the Speeder, and the huge benefits it can bring to military operations and engagement, fire-fighting support, emergency extraction and theatre of combat environments.”
(Hear directly from David Mayman, JetPack Aviation CEO featured at the Agility Prime Virtual Trade Show in May 2020 to introduce and talk about the Speeder. Courtesy of JetPack Aviation and YouTube.)
Easily transportable in a car or motorcycle trailer, and immediately ready to fly, with no charging or other aviation infrastructure requirements, the Speeder offers high-speed forward flight with control and lift effected by aerodynamic surfaces as required, building on the aircraft’s ability to fly on engine thrust vectoring.
The Speeder is modular, offering a variety of missionized payloads, optionally piloted and simple enough to operate and maintain under austere field conditions.
Equipped with a variety of mission equipment, the Speeder is easily and rapidly deployable, simple enough for easy maintenance and support in the field, scalable, and set to create a new standard in emergency and special purpose aviation.
The aircraft burns regular Jet A-1, kerosene, or diesel, but in a recent cooperative supply agreement with Prometheus Fuels Inc., JetPack Aviation has committed to using 100% zero net carbon fuel in all its own future operations.
JetPack Aviation has completed flight trials with the first full scale Speeder P1 prototype, with flight testing of the P1.5 (the second full scale prototype), expected to begin later in Q3-Q4 2021.
Aircraft P2, featuring a fully formed body, small, field-removable wings, and forward canards, should fly from Q1/2 2022.
Thanks to its unique combination of heavy payload, speed, VTOL operation, simplicity and autonomous flight options, the Speeder offers unprecedented special missions capability, with longer term application to the urban air mobility market.
The engineering leader in small, turbine-powered personal VTOL aircraft, California-based JetPack Aviation spent millions of R&D dollars between 2009 and 2015, designing, building, and testing a series of JetPack designs that led to the JB10.
The world’s first FAA-approved jetpack, the JB10 will make its competition debut in World Championship Air Race Season 1 next year.
The company’s wider mission is to create a range of VTOL aircraft that will save lives and revolutionize complex special missions.
JetPack Aviation is already working with the US Department of Defense and the world’s largest EMS company.
Demand is expected to be high, and JetPack Aviation has already begun readying letters of intent for customers and taking pre-orders for the aircraft.
To Learn More, go to www.jetpackaviation.com.
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