Right on target: Air drop precision possible with GPS

location based services


The Air Force is hoping a new cargo air drop system that uses Global Positioning System signals to steer parachuted pallets to troops on the ground will revolutionize air drops the same way GPS-guided bombs changed air attacks.
The Joint Precision Airdrop System made its combat debut Thursday when an Air Force C-130 delivered supplies to Army soldiers in Afghanistan, said Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of Central Air Forces and the 9th Air Force.
“With this system we will be able to drop from up to 25,000 feet and many miles away from the drop zone with exacting precision to troops who may be in an isolated base camp up on the top of a mountain ledge,” North told Air Force Times on Friday. “To be able to deliver at night . . . within feet of exactly where you put the X on the ground is a wonderful thing.”
The JPADS used in Afghanistan can guide up to 2,000 pounds of gear, said Lt. Col. Charles Ciuzio, who helps coordinate mobility issues at Central Air Forces’ Combined Air Operations Center. Each system including parachutes and guidance components costs about $35,000 and is reusable.
The debut combat drop was flown by a C-130 crew from the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Airlift Wing that was deployed to Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.
Before a crew starts a drop it releases a sensor that measures the wind direction and speed above the drop zone, Ciuzio said. That information is relayed to the crew that decides where and when to release the cargo out the rear of a C-130.
Once the cargo is airborne, a computer uses GPS coordinates to steer the payload’s main parachute. When the payload is about 1,000 feet above the drop zone, a second chute deploys and the cargo descends almost straight down.