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The Debrief: Powered Paragliders Emerge As Popular U.S. Troop Transport Idea

Steve Trimble August 26, 2024

Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command Raiders pilot Ozone paragliders during a capabilities demonstration at Special Operations Forces Week in May 2024.

Credit: Luke Sharrett/Getty

Among the panoply of new technologies propelled into development by an intense military rivalry with China, one of the latest may come as a surprise: the humble powered paraglider.

On Aug. 20, the U.S. Army revealed plans to develop the Personal Air Mobility Systems (PAMS), forecasting that a phalanx of motorized trikes attached to parachutes could one day stealthily insert airborne troops behind enemy lines.

The PAMS solicitation, however, marked only the U.S. military’s latest move into powered paragliders.  

Eight days before, Marine Corps headquarters published a “powered paraglider interim policy message.” The draft policy statement supports the Augmented Parachute System (APS), which is the Marines’ equivalent of PAMS.

“This system will fill a registered capability gap for the Reconnaissance and Marine Special Operations communities,” the interim policy guidance says. “Each APS will transport one Marine with combat equipment inside the weapon engagement zone and provide a competitive advantage.”

The U.S. military, however, is a global latecomer to the powered paraglider fad.

Chinese special forces flew a powered paraglider with a small rubber boat onto a river in a public 2002 demonstration, according to Army Training and Doctrine Command’s guide to air and air defense systems. Iran, India, Pakistan, Cuba and Lebanese Hezbollah also have dabbled with the technology, the Army document says.

A group of Hamas fighters breached the Israeli border on Oct. 7 last year onboard motorized paragliders. Photos and videos showed crew members firing small arms as they entered Israeli airspace.

Powered paragliders may seem an unlikely vehicle for a military assault mission. The parachute lines are susceptible to being entangled on takeoff. The simple vehicles are limited by high winds. And the open cockpits offer little protection from the elements and, not least, hostile fire.

But some military planners see advantages that outweigh the drawbacks.

“A militarized powered paraglider platform is envisioned to provide both low-altitude (nap-of-the-earth and/or contour-level flight) infiltration and exfiltration capability to increase survivability and avoid detection by the enemy,” the Army’s PAMS request for project proposals (RPP) says.

The PAMS also could operate as high as 10,000 ft. if necessary, the solicitation adds.

“This new PAMS will also significantly reduce the cost to deliver/transport warfighters over traditional means,” the RPP says. The document offers no elaboration, but alternatives include paratroop airdrops from fixed-wing aircraft, plus transport by helicopters.

The Army’s solicitation seeks a powered paraglider capable of flights with a maximum range of up to 300 km (186 mi.), carrying up to 400 lb.

The Army’s PAMS and the Marines’ APS may benefit from recent military-funded experiments.

Earthly Dynamics, for example, announced on July 25 an Army-funded demonstration of an air-launched paraglider system, with the uncrewed vehicle dropped from a small, fixed-wing transport. UK-based Survice Engineering, meanwhile, adapted the British Parajet P55 into an uncrewed powered paraglider system. Triton Systems Inc. also received a contract worth up to $1.5 million for a powered paraglider system from the Navy.

As the PAMS and APS programs move forward, certain policy issues may arise. For example, the maximum weight in the Army’s PAMS solicitation exceeds the 254-lb. limit in the FAA’s ultralight category. That means to integrate into civil airspace during peacetime, the military’s powered paraglider operators will require a sport pilot license, a category that requires half the flight time as a private pilot’s license.

But the technology offers a new option for ground troops. In areas that pose practical or existential challenges to flying rotorcraft and fixed-wing transports, there may still be a way to launch airborne assaults.