France’s annual Bastille Day parade showcased European military cooperation and innovation on Sunday, complete with a French inventor hovering above Paris on a jet-powered flyboard.
Franky Zapata, a French inventor and entrepreneur soared above the Champs-Elysees on a turbine engine-powered flyboard in front of President Emmanuel Macron and other EU leaders.
Zapata, a former jet-skiing champion, grasping a rifle in a sign of the possible military uses of his device, took to the air in a futuristic showpiece of the annual parade.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
Macron, flanked by German chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders, nodded in approval and applauded the 40-year-old Zapata, who was referred to by astonished French TV commentators as “James Bond.”
French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told France Inter radio ahead of the parade that the flyboard “can allow tests for different kinds of uses, for example as a flying logistical platform or, indeed, as an assault platform.”
Zapata, who first developed his device flying above water, says that the flyboard has the power to take off and reach speeds up to 190km an hour and run for 10 minutes.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
He is now eyeing a crossing of the English Channel which, for the first time, will require a refuelling in mid-flight.
Zapata aims to make the crossing on July 25, 110 years to the day after pioneering aviator Louis Bleriot made the first airplane flight across the Channel.
(AFP with staff writer)
上週日,一年一度的法國國慶「巴士底日」閱兵典禮,展示了歐洲的軍事合作與創新,典禮最後,一位法國發明家以噴射引擎動力的「懸浮飛板」(flyboard)在巴黎上空盤旋,為閱兵畫下完美句點。
法蘭基‧沙帕塔是一位發明家兼企業家,他在總統艾曼紐‧馬克宏和其他歐盟領導人面前,以渦輪引擎驅動的飛板裝置升騰高飛,飛到香榭麗舍大道上空。
沙帕塔也是水上摩托車冠軍選手,在這充滿未來感的展演中他手持步槍,表示這套裝置應用在軍事上的潛力。
法國總統馬克宏點頭讚許,在德國總理安格拉‧梅克爾及其他歐洲領導人的簇擁下,向四十歲的沙帕塔鼓掌喝采。法國電視轉播記者大為驚嘆,把沙帕塔稱為「○○七情報員詹姆士‧龐德」。
法國國防部長芙洛杭斯‧帕利在閱兵前向法國國際廣播電台表示,該飛板「可以用來測試其各種用途,例如作為可飛行的後勤平台,或者真的用來做攻擊平台」。
沙帕塔最初所開發出來的是可在水面上飛行的裝置。他說flyboard的動力可以做到起飛、達到每小時一百九十公里的速度,並連續飛十分鐘。
目前他正為飛越英吉利海峽的首航做準備,這樣的行程會需要在途中補給燃料。
沙帕塔計劃在七月二十五日飛越海峽,距離飛行員先驅路易‧布萊里奧特首次飛越英吉利海峽,正好一百一十年。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
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