Cirque du US Defense Department

DARPA plots emergency man-cannon

However, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has filed a patent application for a contraption designed to hurl SWAT teams and other emergency workers onto the roofs of inaccessible tall buildings human cannonball style, New Scientist reports.

The lethal-looking device (pictured) consists of a forward-facing chair mounted on rails that point at an angle of up to 80°. Powered by compressed air, the foolhardy “payload” would shoot up until the saddle reaches the end of the rails, at which point he would flail free skyward.

Hooray for the humongous US defense budget!