September 1,2008:  Parachuting supplies to troops is becoming more popular in Afghanistan. This is more expensive, but gives the growing number of Taliban placing roadside bombs, far fewer targets. So far this year, over 4,400 tons of supplies have been air dropped by U.S. Air Force C-130s and C-17s. That's more than was dropped in all of 2007. In the last four years, 8,500 tons have been dropped, with 98.5 percent of the drops being successful. Accuracy is important in Afghanistan, with all the hills, gullies and forests. Air dropped supplies have landed, on average, with 185 meters of the aim point.

Where high accuracy is required, the air force has developed JPADS (Joint Precision Airdrop System) and ICDS (Improved Container Delivery System). Both of these are systems whereby pallets of supplies are equipped with GPS, and mechanical controls, to guide the direction of the descending parachute for pinpoint landings. After the pallet is pushed out of the aircraft, but before the parachute is deployed, the pallets first release a parafoil (a parachute that can be controlled in such a way that the user can gain altitude and travel over long distances), and the pallet descends at about 44 meters a second (from an altitude of about 6,000 meters, safely away from any ground fire), guided towards the landing point. When a few hundred meters over the programmed drop zone, the parafoil is released and the parachute deploys, bringing the pallet (with up to five tons of supplies) down within a hundred meters of the programmed landing point. A single C-17 can deliver up to 40 pallets this way, to many different landing zones. JPADS has release point information (calculated using current weather conditions) sent to the C-17, along with GPS landing coordinates for the pallets. This GPS data is transmitted to each pallet via a wi-fi type system.

 The new system was developed from earlier precision para-drop systems. All rely on GPS to give accurate landing information, and easily manipulated parafoils to provide the maneuverability. The aircrews find it fascinating to push a bunch of pallets out, then watch as they form into "flocks" and head off for their various drop zones. For the troops on the ground, it's a convenient way to get supplies, no matter where they are out in the boondocks.

Before the development of GPS guided air drops, a large percentage of air dropped supplies were lost, either by falling into enemy hands, or into things that destroyed them (especially water). With the new delivery systems, it's possible to do night drops, which is preferred when you don't want to alert nearby enemy troops. Often, you can accurately drop pallets without the GPS systems, if you have a large flat drop zone, daylight, and calm winds. But if conditions are difficult, you now have GPS guided drops.