The US Air Force has conducted its first ever low-cost, low-altitude (LCLA) combat airdrop mission from a C-130 Hercules aircraft, in Afghanistan.
LCLA airdrops by Hercules aircrews are designed to make deliveries more accurate and flexible for resupplying small and mobile forces in Afghanistan.
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The new airdrop method will be useful for the air force to drop what ground forces require during combat operations in Afghanistan’s rugged terrain.
During the C-130 LCLA mission, bundles weighing 80lb to 500lb were dropped with pre-packed expendable parachutes in groups of up to four bundles a pass.
Air mobility division director Col. Keith Boone said this new method was important in the fight against counterinsurgency but would not be wholly replacing air-land missions.
The LCLA drop is more accurate than traditional, higher-altitude airdrop methods and reduces the chance of stray bundles landing away from the drop zone.
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By GlobalDataAdditionally, it does not require any kind of specialised training for parachute riggers, so can be dropped from a variety of aircraft.
The 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron assistant director of operations Lt. Col. Darryl Sassaman said the goal for this mission was to fly to a small forward-operating base and drop some of the smaller bundles to them.
The air force conducted the LCLA mission on 6 February, and made it operational on 1 March.
