It’s a bird, it’s a plane…

The Daily Mail:

Elite special forces troops being dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions are to ditch their traditional parachutes in favour of strap-on stealth wings.

The lightweight carbon fibre mono-wings will allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing - making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft can avoid flying anywhere near the target…

The manufacturers claim the ESG wing is '100 per cent silent' and 'extremely difficult' to track using radar.

Supposedly, soldiers using the stealth wings can be deployed from an aircraft out of enemy territory and then glide up to 120 miles carrying 200 pounds of equipment. The wings comes equipped with an oxygen supply and stabilization and navigation guides.

Between these things and the invisibility cloak, I’m starting to think that soon we’ll have a real superhero. The only question is where we can find some enterprising and dedicated Bruce Wayne-type philanthropist with a whole lotta cash, maybe someone who has some experience swooping in on rescue missions on his own private jet or going on one-man crusades. I don’t know. Got any ideas?

Okay, in all seriousness, these stealth wings are very cool, especially if they’re capable of doing what the manufacturer claims. Being a rather war-averse type, I’m not predisposed to get my panties in a bunch about new weaponry, but I do like anything that can better protect our troops—and having just watched Band of Brothers, with images of Easy Company men parachuting through a bomb-lit night sky or strung up in trees by their parachutes still fresh in my mind, these seem pretty cool.

On the other hand, there are stories like this, which make me feel all oogy and distrusting of new technologies that make secret missions more executable. But in the balance, I’d rather just elect people who make wise military decisions and give the troops the cool and potentially much safer gadgetry.