<p><img src="https://static2.businessinsider.com/image/609155c4f22c6b00185db735-1785/Maritime%20Boarding.jpeg.png" border="0" alt="A Royal Marine in a jetpack launches from a fast boat to board a Royal Navy ship." data-mce-source="Screenshot from Gravity Industries video" data-mce-caption="A Royal Marine in a jetpack launches from a fast boat to board a Royal Navy ship."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>British Royal Marines have been practicing boarding ships with futuristic jet packs that let them fly over the water like Iron Man.</p><p>The "Jet Suit" was made by UK-based Gravity Industries, which released a video Sunday that showed Royal Marines using the jet packs to launch from rigid inflatable boats and land aboard the Royal Navy Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol ship HMS Tamar.</p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/suHOLFhbwsM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p>The exercise lasted three days, involved 42 Commando Royal Marines, and explored alternatives to traditional maritime boarding practices, Gravity Industries said in a press release.</p><p>Maritime boarding operations, also known as Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) operations, are challenging and have traditionally involved troops coming alongside a ship in a fast boat and hooking a caving ladder or fast-roping from a helicopter onto the ship.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-special-operations-vbss-daring-way-to-storm-enemy-ships-2021-1">former US Special Forces officer previously told Insider</a> that "VBSS is one of the most complex and dangerous of MAROPS [Maritime Operations] missions," explaining that it often requires special equipment and training to execute effectively.</p><p>With the jet pack, the wearer can launch from a fast boat, land on the ship, and then drop a ladder that others can use to climb aboard. Royal Marines can be seen doing exactly that in the video.</p><p>The jet suit is still experimental, but the vision "is to provide extremely rapid access to any part of the target vessel, instantly freeing up hands to bear a weapon, and even retaining the capability to relocate on target or self-exfiltrate," Gravity Industries said in its press release.</p><p>In the video, one Royal Marine can be seen immediately disconnecting the arm-mounted jets and pulling out a ladder. After the ladder is secured, he pulls out what appears to be a handgun.</p><p>"This is increasingly seen as a revolution in tactical capability for many special forces and has much broader application beyond Maritime boarding," the company added.</p><p>The new video from Gravity Industries is not the first time that people in jet suits have been seen flying around British ships. Last May, for instance, Gravity released a video of an operator flew from a fast boat onto a Royal Navy P2000 Patrol Boat during what the company called "assault trials."</p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/H4FUBfp9kS0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p>And about a week before that video came out, Gravity released another video showing someone wearing a jet suit flying around the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and practicing intercepting civilian vessels sailing nearby.</p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SoFlqIaDJ8U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p>The new video from Gravity comes just a few weeks after the company released footage from a maritime boarding training exercise with the Netherlands Maritime Special Operations Force.</p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/M2KvlQKdBo8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p>Outside of the armed forces, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-54331994">paramedics with Britain's Great North Air Ambulance Service have looked into using jet suits for remote rescue operations</a>, as the suits allow medical personnel to reach someone in distress in a hard to reach area much faster than they might otherwise be able to by some other means.</p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gtvCnZqZnxc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p>Gravity's jet suit set the record for the fastest speed in a body-controlled jet-engine-powered suit, <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2019/11/real-life-iron-man-smashes-his-jet-powered-suit-record-by-flying-at-85-mph">according to Guinness World Records</a>.</p><p>The record was set by British inventor and Gravity founder Richard Browning, who flew over 85 mph during a test flight in 2019.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-royal-marines-board-ship-at-sea-with-jet-packs-2021-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/supermarinovation-x2-sport-device-makes-you-human-torpedo-2017-7">This underwater jetpack lets you swim like Michael Phelps</a></p>
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