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Minneapolis leads command in precision airdrop system

  • Published
  • By Capt. Dennis Mishler
  • 934th Opertions Support Flight
MINNEAPOLIS --  The 96th Airlift Squadron here demonstrated a "lean forward" approach toward its tactical airdrop mission by sending two aircrews to participate in Joint Precision Airdrop System training earlier this year.

Reservists from the 934th Operations Group, 934th Operations Support Flight and 96th AS, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Air Reserve Station, were the first in Air Force Reserve Command to go through the training at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Ariz.

The Joint Precision Airdrop System uses the same global positioning technology that helps fighter and bomber aircrews deliver smart bombs with pinpoint accuracy. JPADS allows cargo bundles dropped from C-130s to steer themselves to drop zones.

Traditionally, C-130 crews airdrop cargo between 400 and 1,000 feet. With JPADS, they have the potential to guide airdrop bundles from as high as 25,000 feet with the same, if not better, accuracy.

Additionally, JPADS enables crews to drop cargo to multiple, small drop zones from a single release point. This capability keeps the aircraft and aircrews safer and out of range of the enemy.

"It's the JDAMs (joint direct attack munitions) of logistics," said Maj. Neil Richardson, chief of the combat programs and policy branch at Air Mobility Command.

"JPADS made its combat debut in Afghanistan on Aug. 31, 2006, and has since done exactly what it was designed for," said Major Richardson, who is stationed in Yuma, where he oversees JPADS training and testing. "This training gives the aircrews a chance to familiarize themselves in a training environment as opposed to learning a new system in theater."

The system includes mission planner software on a laptop computer to plan the optimal release points. The software is loaded with a high-resolution wind forecast model.

The computer also receives updated near real-time wind information while in the air using hand-launched, GPS equipped dropsondes. This information is communicated to the JPADS loads through a repeater in the cargo bay that re-broadcasts the aircraft's GPS coordinates to electronics fastened to the cargo. When dropped, the GPS receivers guide steering mechanisms that literally fly the cargo, under a rectangular para-foil, to the desired point of impact.

"It uses a very accurate, real-time wind picture of what's going on out there," Major Richardson said. "Most errors come from wind, and we've taken a lot of the error out.

"As long as aircrews are in the launch acceptability region, they can call green light and their loads are going to go to their intended targets," he said. "JPADS takes the aircrew and the aircraft out of harm's way by being higher and further away from the drop zones and therefore, further away from the threats."

While attending training, 934th Airlift Wing crewmembers successfully airdropped several 2,000-pound JPADS loads to Corral drop zone, confirming the accuracy of the system. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)