Jumping out of a plane is a pretty binary operation—you’re in a plane then you’re not. However, HALO jumpers, folks who are jump from so high that they can’t figure out where they are and once they get close enough to the ground they have to pull the ripcord minutes before touchdown, have all sorts of issues to contend with.
Enter the Military Free Fall Navigation System, a tiny GPS unit with heads-up display that allows the jumper to tweak their fall. It’s only in prototype right now, but the device should be able to handle variable wind speeds and all kinds of mid-flight info.
GPS JUMPERS [DefenseTech]
