The Pentagon developed artificial fins for underwater saboteurs

The research unit of the Pentagon DARPA reported the creation of a fundamentally new type of outfit for underwater swimming. With the help of artificial fins, the aqualangist will imitate the movement of a dolphin or penguin under water, which will allow him to move 150% faster than in traditional fins. The production of new items is planned to be started in a year, writes Washington Profile .

Nature extremely poorly adapted a person to swim - only 3% of the energy consumed in water he uses to move forward, experts indicate. The use of fins increases the utility coefficient to 10%. For comparison, the dolphin successfully consumes 80% of energy under water.

The new device is called Powerswim. Two small "wings" are attached to the ankles of the swimmer, the two large ones are located at the level of the belt. To swim, it is necessary to produce light movements of the legs - "from the knee." The energy is transmitted to the wing “wings”, which rotate, supporting the swimmer at a certain depth and moving it forward. The developers copied the movement of fins of sea turtles and dolphins.

Darpa has developed this equipment for the combat swimmers of the US Armed Forces. The press release indicates that PowerSwim saves the swimmer of strength. A professional underwater saboteur requires a new swimming technique for about 2 hours. It is extremely beneficial for secret operations and the fact that, unlike flippers, Powerswim does not produce treacherous bubbles capable of issuing the whereabouts of the scubalist.

The fins that swimmers use now invented many times. Their first image was found in the workbooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Among the inventors of Last are also American Benjamin Franklin, who created his model as a child. Modern flippers independently created the Frenchman Louis de Curel and Owen Churchill from the USA in the 1930s. In the future, the inventors turned to the experience of dolphins - this is how Monolast appeared, first demonstrated in the USSR in 1972.