Watch: British Royal Navy Flies People In Jet Suits Around New York City Harbor

British soldiers with ‘Iron Man-style’ jetpacks flew around the harbor in New York City last month during a defense conference hosted on a Royal Navy warship.

Gravity Industries, a human flight start-up based out of the UK, released footage of two men dressed in military fatigues, presumably marines, taking off from the Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier in New York Harbour during the Atlantic Future Forum. The conference was held between Sept. 28-29 on the lead ship of the Royal Navy. 

Each jet suit is powered by five gas turbine jet engines that generate 1,000 horsepower and only weigh 75 pounds. The suit runs on jet fuel, diesel or kerosene and can propel the operator forward at a top speed of 80 mph and is capable of reaching an altitude of 12,000 feet. 

Gravity’s video shows both jetpack operators took it easy around the harbor while the press snapped pictures and captured stunning videos. 

The Royal Navy has been testing jetpacks for at least a year. The operating time of the suit is around ten minutes at full speed. 

What’s being displayed is the future of military aviation. Gravity has already tested personal jetpack technology during a NATO mountain warfare exercise and on the heavy seas.  

So besides hypersonic weapons, AI drones, and fifth and soon sixth-generation planes, the Western militaries are seeking to acquire jetpacks for the modern battlefield. 

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) not long ago requested private companies for a “portable personal air mobility system” for special operations. Perhaps Gravity’s jetpack is what the Pentagon’s experimental research arm is seeking.