Airborne (1997) by Tom Clancy Read Free Book Online Page A

material. The larger cargo parachutes changed the face of airborne warfare. Rather than the vulnerable gliders having to follow the paratroopers into a “hot” DZ, the heavy cargo could now be dropped just minutes ahead of the troopers. This improved the chances of achieving tactical surprise in a drop operation as well as insuring that more of the airborne’s vital equipment and supplies arrived intact. As an added bonus, the new materials, synthetics like nylon and rayon, were also used in the new generation of personnel parachutes, making them much more reliable with a much longer service life. Up to a hundred jumps can be made on a single modern synthetic T-10 parachute, which makes it quite a bargain by current defense standards.
    By the 1960s, several new ideas in parachute design were beginning to make themselves known around the world. One of these was to change the shape of the parachute canopy to give it some degree of maneuverability. As mentioned previously, other than the effects of winds, the circular canopy parachutes tend to float down vertically in a fairly straight line. While desirable when dropping large units, this characteristic can become a liability when you want to drop people and things with pinpoint precision on a particular spot or thing. When the British attacked the Pegasus and Orne river bridges on D-Day, they used manned Horsa gliders which could land right on the targets. Fortunately, the Air Force and NASA were looking into the problem of maneuverable parachute systems for applications in recovering satellites and down aircrews. One of the most promising of these was the parafoil, which utilized a rectangular-shaped canopy with tunnels to channel air and provide forward thrust to the chute. By pulling down on various lines attached to the corners, the whole assembly could be maneuvered, with a fair cross-range. Quickly, the military adopted several maneuverable designs, primarily for special operations forces. Unfortunately, steerable personnel parachutes can be highly dangerous during massed unit drops. The problem is that the various jumpers tend to maneuver around, making the chances of a midair collision between troopers a distinct possibility. Thus, other than for Pathfinders and Ranger units, the forces within the 82nd and XVIII Airborne Corps use only circular canopy chutes.

    A U.S. Army paratrooper descends under a T-10M main parachute canopy. This has been the standard parachute canopy since the late 1950s.
    JOHN D. GRESHAM
    A C-17A Globemaster III deploys a series of heavy drop payloads into a drop zone. Parachute heavy drop has replaced gliders since the end of the Second World War.
    OFFICIAL U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO VIA McDONNEL DOUGLAS
AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS

    Nevertheless, the steerable parachute is finding a new role as a result of a new concept: precision heavy airdrop. Current heavy airdrop doctrine has the aircraft manually dropping supplies and equipment from as low as 500 feet/152 meters. This makes the transport aircraft sitting ducks, and the loss of any airlifters can have a severe effect on your abilities to conduct follow-on operations. More recently, Air Force C-130s have been taking fire and hits from ground-based defenses while dropping relief supplies in Northern Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The USAF therefore has a need to be able to drop heavy equipment and supplies from high altitudes, as well as in bad weather and rough terrain. Currently, the Air Force is testing a new kind of heavy drop system, which combines a large steerable parachute with an autonomous autopilot system tied to a NAVSTAR GPS receiver. In this way, all the airdrop crew has to do is to input a desired aimpoint position into the autopilot, then release the parachute with its attached cargo. Once the chute deploys, the GPS system guides it to a pinpoint landing, within just a few yards/meters of the aimpoint. The system is simple and relatively cheap, and will probably come into service within