Wright-Pat Helps Develop ‘Smart Drops’
By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Feb. 12–WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Remember smart bombs?
The Air Force and Army have teamed to create what you might call “smart drops.”
The high-altitude, satellite-guided system allows cargo planes to drop supply bundles that can steer themselves to specific drop zones.
The goal of the Joint Precision Airdrop System, or JPADS, is to cut down on the number of roadway convoys, which face the danger of roadside bombs, and to reduce high-threat helicopter resupply missions.
“It is extremely rewarding to know we are helping save lives,” said Air Force Col. Anthony Zompetti, vice director of the 516th Aeronautical Systems Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The base’s Air Mobility Command, Aeronautical Systems Center and Electronic Systems Center are involved in development of the program, which uses Army and Air Force hardware and software to get water, food and other supplies and equipment within 280 yards of a drop site, instead of several miles.
The first guided strategic drop in a combat zone occurred in Afghanistan on Aug. 31.
There have been at least nine JPADS missions to date, Zompetti said. “Any day we should be dropping payloads in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” he said.
A goal is for the system, once fully developed, to be able to deliver four sizes of JPADS — extra light (200 to 2,200 pounds); light (2,201 to 10,000 pounds); medium (10,001 to 30,000 pounds); and heavy (30,000 to 60,000 pounds).
The heavy loads are still in the concept-development phase but military officials hope to one day be able to drop heavy equipment, such as the Army’s 19-ton Stryker armored vehicle.
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