Indian Army eyes jetpack suits, demo held in Agra's AATS

In a move to boost tactical mobility along sensitive international border areas, the Indian Army has started the process of testing jetpack suits developed by a British company, Gravity Industries. A demonstration of the device was held at the Indian Army Airborne Training School (AATS) in Agra recently, officials said.


A jetpack suit is a personal flight technology that allows a person to fly using small but powerful engines attached to his/her body. The suit typically consists of three small jet engines attached to the arms and back of a specially designed suit or harness, which allows the wearer to control their movements and direction of flight.



Taking to Twitter, the Indian Aerospace Defence News, through its handle, shared videos showing Gravity Industries founder Richard Browning giving a demonstration of its jetpack system and flying over a water body and fields in Agra.

Jetpack suit allows a person to fly using small engines attached to body

In the video, Browning is seen wearing a jetpack suit, having three jet engines — one on the back and two on each hand – and navigating smoothly in the air. In January, the Indian Army had issued a request for proposal (RPF) mentioning its intention to buy 48 jetpack suits under emergency procurement through the fasttrack procedure (FTP). The testing of the jetpack suit comes at a time when the Indian Army has been bolstering its overall surveillance apparatus along the nearly 3,500 km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China following the eastern Ladakh border row that began in May 2020.

According to the RPF for procurement of 48 quality jetpack suits issued by the Indian Army on January 24, the total weight of the system (excluding the human) must not exceed 40 kg. It must have features for safe take off, flight and landing post training of the user. “The jet pack suit should have any modern propulsion system, including turbine engines/electric and hybrid systems. The max speed should not be less than 50 km/h, the payload carrying capacity should not be less than 80 kg, should have minimum 8 minutes of flight time, can attain operational altitude of up to 3000 m in carried terrains and weather conditions, and it should have minimum 60% Indian content,” the RPF draft mentions.