Bond and Jinx employ Switchblades to descend into North Korean territory, evading radar. Once below radar, they jettison the Switchblades and parachute in. 

This full-sized Switchblade model was used for studio shots with actors Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry shot against a green screen. It has functional expanding wings and moving tail elevators and rudders. Yet the need for a studio model does not mean the Switchblades were merely a screenwriter’s fantasy! 

This remarkable gadget is, in reality, a PHASST (Programable High Altitude Single Soldier Transport) developed by Kinetic Aerospace Inc. Jack McCormack served as the lead designer, and he was surprised when the film producers wanted PHASSTs identical to their first flight test model. Referring to the scene that director Lee Tamahori staged, “It’s brief but realistic; the good guys get in unobserved thanks to the fast cruise, good glide performance and minimal radar signature, a wonderful promotion for PHASST.”

The PHASST is launched from the back of a chinook helicopter, tail first. The pilot flies in a “tracking position” (prone, headfirst), and uses the brakes on the wingtip to control direction and drag. Once free of the helicopter, the pilot spreads the wings and begins the descent. Once under the radar, the pilot jettisons the PHASST and engages their own parachute. The PHASST can deploy a parachute, or land under remote control. 

Ex-British Army Red Devils paratrooper Allan Hewitt, Kinetics’ experienced test pilot (and a pilot used in the Parahawk sequence of The World Is Not Enough), did testing jumps where the PHASSTs descend, while the shots in the film utilized CGI. 

The Foundation’s Switchblade was acquired in June 2005.