airdrop

As part of the LCLA testing and evaluation process, in July 2006, ATEC's Developmental Test Command (DTC) subjected the project team's five LCLA selected systems (see the chart on page 21 ) to a very rigorous technical feasibility test at the Yuma Test Center in Arizona* After completing 116 test airdrops of LCLA parachutes from the Oklahoma Army National Guard's C-23 Sherpa cargo airplanes at 150 feet AGL with no system failures, the DTC concluded that LCLA parachutes, under specified operating parameters, met safety standards for use by Soldiers.

In most airdrops, the cargo is strapped to pallets, and the whole package is ejected from the aircraft.

C-17s utilize SKE to maintain formation position and execute airdrops during instrument meteorological conditions.

Outnumbered and with essential supplies running dangerously low, we received the first of our life-saving airdrops. One of the items delivered to the besieged admin hut in the inhospitable Arakan jungle was a card in the shape of a key wishing me well on my 21st birthday.

MORE American troops and equipment flew into northern Iraq y esterday,as 1,000 paratroopers grabbed a key airfield in one of the biggest airdrops since the Second World War.

An international network of church aid agencies criticized humanitarian airdrops linked to U.S.-led military strikes in Afghanistan, saying they compromise other aid efforts in the region.

RELATED ARTICLE: Airdrops safer thanks to loadmasters

military's airdrops of food packages to the people of Afghanistan are "ineffective" and at best "symbolic," according to an international coalition of church aid agencies.

Craig Quigley said airdrops would be ''a particularly dangerous undertaking'' and hinted at the possibility that transport planes performing the airdrops would have fighter escorts.

The Triad system is ideal for airdrops in regions with many hungry displaced people, since it permits wide dispersal and discourages hoarding and fighting which often accompany the delivery of larger pallet-sized loads.

Airdrops of food over East Timor to feed tens of thousands of displaced people threatened with starvation were postponed for a third day Tuesday because of military priorities, an Australian Navy spokesman said.

The airdrops of food and medical supplies begun by the United States on the last day of February are the most recent example.