SOCOM Awards $10 Million Contract for Jet Boots for Special Operators

• US unique operators are investing in tech to give it an advantage towards remarkably capable adversaries.
• US Particular Functions Command lately awarded a $10 million deal for jet boots to give its divers that edge.

With the US armed service reorienting by itself for a potential conflict with a extremely capable adversary, the US unique-functions local community is investing in abilities and engineering that would give it an advantage in this kind of a conflict.

A current expenditure is in a futuristic piece of engineering that would have a good deal of added benefits for one particular of that community’s toughest task: overcome diver.

Jet boots

—Patriot3, Inc. (@Patriot3Inc) Could 26, 2022

In April, US Unique Functions Command awarded a $10 million agreement to the Virginia-based company Patriot3 for the invest in and maintenance of the Jet Boots Diver Propulsion Procedure. The deal is a “firm-fixed-selling price” settlement for the delivery of an indefinite number of jets boots up to 2027.

Jet boots use a battery pack and a brushless motor program to propel the diver. The boots have two thrusters on the side of every single leg that the operator can maneuver with their body, liberating up their hands for other jobs.

Jet boots are principally applied by the Army Special Forces battle-diver teams and Navy SEALs, and variations at this time in use can shift a diver at speeds up to 4 knots when permitting them to be “totally relaxed” and conserve vitality.

The consensus amongst specific operators who have made use of jet boots is that once you get utilized to them they are extremely quick to use and function. For case in point, unique operators utilizing jet boots all through take a look at, board, lookup, and seizure missions or maritime counterterrorism operations could get on goal speedier and be much more rested at the time they get there.

US Navy/CPO Andrew McKaskle

The boots have advantages and downsides, according to John Black, a retired Green Beret warrant officer.

“Beat divers are acknowledged to and expected to be capable to dive for very prolonged periods of time and to swim for hours on end. Based on the present-day of the h2o and the pace of the dive, this could go away the diver fatigued by the time he reaches the seashore. Then the diver is expected to perform a mission,” Black instructed Insider.

“Diving is a means of infiltration. The combat diver are unable to be fatigued just from the infiltration,” Black included.

Transferring by way of the drinking water with these types of ease would be a great enable to combat divers, but in some scenarios, there is a draw back to reducing exertion.

“In colder waters, using jet boots need to be very carefully prepared,” Black mentioned. “A diver currently being motionless for an hour in cold water, whilst continuously breaking new h2o, could go away the diver hypothermic. So it need to be remembered that it is a resource, not a vehicle.”

An asset if made use of ideal

—Patriot3, Inc. (@Patriot3Inc) February 4, 2022

Currently being ready to go farther faster and arriving less fatigued — and hence much better prepared — would be an asset to a combat diver workforce and could make a variance amongst success and failure.

“They arrive with a significant price tag, but you get incredible success. You have men undertaking 5-[kilometer swims] and utilizing hardly any oxygen and additional importantly getting entirely rested and prepared to go upon hitting the beach,” a retired Green Beret with intensive knowledge in battle diver functions informed Insider.

The Army Particular Forces operator spoke on the issue of anonymity because of ongoing get the job done with the authorities.

A major tenet of US specific functions is that “persons — not equipment — make the significant variance,” and exclusive operators acquainted with the jet boots warning versus relying also considerably on know-how, as a improperly chosen and trained commando will never be as efficient regardless of devices.

US particular-operations forces will proceed to evolve along with their mission established, Black advised Insider.

“If we hope our ideal fighters to go any where and do something, they will have to be equipped with the most up-to-date technological innovation and devices,” Black reported. “I do see SOF groups utilizing these [boots] much more often, however trying to keep their core tasks and health at the base of every little thing they do.”

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in particular functions, a Hellenic Army veteran (countrywide provider with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate.