---
title: "SOCOM Could Test A Military Jet Pack As Soon As This Summer"
description: "Strap in for a wild ride: U.S. Special Operations Command could end up testing out a prototype of a military-grade jet pack as soon as this summer,"
date: "2019-01-29"
modified: "2019-01-29"
authors:
  - name: "Jared Keller"
    job_title: "Former Managing Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-jet-pack-socom/"
categories:
  - "Aircraft"
  - "Around the World"
  - "News"
  - "Tactics"
  - "Tech & Tactics"
  - "United States"
tags:
  - "special operations command"
---

# SOCOM Could Test A Military Jet Pack As Soon As This Summer

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/19129417-5.jpg>)

Strap in for a wild ride: U.S. Special Operations Command could end up testing out a prototype of a military-grade jet pack as soon as this summer, Stars & Stripes [reports](<https://www.stripes.com/news/the-age-of-true-jetpack-flight-is-near-and-special-operations-command-wants-in-on-it-1.565651>).

- JetPack Aviation — the California-based company that's been hacking away at a relatively lightweight "individual lift device" (ILD) as part of a joint research agreement with SOCOM since 2016 — plans on delivering a full-scale prototype to SOCOM for testing by "late summer," the company [told](<https://www.stripes.com/news/the-age-of-true-jetpack-flight-is-near-and-special-operations-command-wants-in-on-it-1.565651>) Stars & Stripes.
- JetPack Aviation personnel have reportedly been working with operators for years to tinker with the functionality of its turbine engine-powered JB-10 ILD prototype, [per](<https://www.stripes.com/news/the-age-of-true-jetpack-flight-is-near-and-special-operations-command-wants-in-on-it-1.565651>) Stars & Stripes, and at least one Navy SEAL has already trained on the rig.
- While the JB-10 can [currently fly ](<https://www.stripes.com/news/the-age-of-true-jetpack-flight-is-near-and-special-operations-command-wants-in-on-it-1.565651>)at speeds of more than 200 mph for just about 10 minutes at a time, JetPack Aviation CEO David Mayman [unveiled](<https://newatlas.com/jetpack-aviation-jb11-david-mayman-interview/52944/>) a next-generation JB-11 version just over a year ago. According to a 2017 SEC filing, the company was [aiming](<https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1688786/000168878617000001/jetpackannualreport2017.pdf>) to test "a multiengine, fully-autonomous unmanned platform" by the end of 2018.
- The jetpack concept has enthralled military planners for decades: As Australian Army Lt. Col. Matthew P. Dirago [observed](<https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/November-December-2018/Dirago-Individual-Lift-Device/>) in a December article on ILDs in the U.S. Army's *Military Review* professional journal, jetpacks offer opportunities for "enhancing distributed maneuver, undermining an adversary's A2/AD defenses, augmenting autonomous systems, and enhancing the ability to defeat adversaries in complex terrain."
- How operators might actually use the jetpack is another question. "The possible uses of this technology are still being evaluated," SOCOM [told](<https://www.stripes.com/news/the-age-of-true-jetpack-flight-is-near-and-special-operations-command-wants-in-on-it-1.565651>) Stars & Stripes in a statement, adding that the command "does not discuss specific details or potential applications of such technologies."

### SEE ALSO: Drones Aren't F\*&king Magic, People

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## Author
Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

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