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Iraq para drop

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fortuncookie5084

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What's the word on an at least company level para drop way to the forward edge in Iraq?  I heard something briefly this morning and haven't heard a thing since.  News reports about it have been replaced by muddy descriptions like this:  http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?

EDIT: put in new link, old one obsolete.
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/26/warwrap_030326
Thu, 27 Mar 2003 8:42:06
WASHINGTON - The United States, stung by criticism that its war plan in Iraq is in disarray, opened its long-awaited northern front on Wednesday.


Paratroopers land close by an airstrip 
More than 1,000 U.S. army troops parachuted into Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Iraq. "I can only tell you yes, they're on the ground," said army spokesman Lt.-Col. Thomas Collins.

But a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade says the troops seized an airfield called Bashur, about 50 kilometres south of the Turkish border.

It is believed several hundred members of the U.S. Special Forces are in northern Iraq. There has been no information on their mission.

The airfield seized by the paratroopers is large enough to accommodate large C-17 Globemaster transport planes, which are expected to begin ferrying supplies and support personnel into the region.

The main targets for forces in northern Iraq are expected to be the oilfields around Mosul and Kirkuk.

Heavy fighting has been reported in southern Iraq near Basra. A British military spokesman said a column of Iraqi tanks and armoured personnel carriers left Basra, heading south. The column was attacked by British and U.S. warplanes, as well as coalition artillery.

There were reports of a fierce battle near the city of Najaf for control of key bridges across the Euphrates River. There are reports a small Iraqi column left Baghdad heading south in the direction of Karbala.



Written by CBC News
 
When I heard it I thought either Airforce CCTS or Rangers. I think most likely the former tho.
 
Well, whoever it was...one of the poor *******s had a pretty hard landing as his chute had a partial malfunction all the way down...let‘s just say he landed a good 6 or 7 seconds ahead of the rest of his chums...
 
Ouch. There‘s been a 1000+ man drop in northern Iraq today. The Airborne spirit is alive and well. Heard it was the Yanks only.
 
Nevermind:

from www.cnn.com

U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vincenza, Italy, parachuted into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq Wednesday and seized an airfield, according to CNN Correspondent Steve Nettleton, who is accompanying the unit.
 
When I heard they came from Italy I automatically thought it was one of the PIR‘s of the 82nd that was always based in Italy (505 PIR??) Evidently I was wrong. The 173‘d (of Vietnam-era fame) was resurrected in recent years and they jumped as a brigade last night. Rangers jumped also according to CNN. I‘m glad to see the Yanks see the need for MORE airborne forces instead of less. Welcome back, 173‘d Airborne!
http://www.warrantedgrafix.com/SEP_BDES/173ABN.htm

Image48.gif
 
I believe the "rangers" they reffered to were just tabbed members of the 173rd, not members of the 75th.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over the years on this discussion group, people have raved about airborne operations, how they are super, how they are obsolete.

This operation by the infantry battalion group from the 173rd AIrborne Brigade is a prime example of the strategic reinforcement of the tactical battlefield, a major air operation to drop a infantry battalion group onto a airfield, and seizing it intact.
From Northern Italy to Northern Iraq

It was a combat drop, even though special operations units had seized the approaches and significant ground appointments, there were still Iraqi units offering resistance. The initial photos here, are showing a 105mm Light Gun battery in action.

By seizing such an air head the US military have a ability to reinforce light airborne combat units with heavy units. If they have such available in Kuwait, a armoured/mech infantry/SP artillery battle group of battalion size could be lifted into Northern Iraq in a 24 hour period. 12 or 20 C17‘s doing 4 or 3 missions each per 24/24 period, can lift in such a unit with first line logistic support. This of course would not take into consideration the C130 aircraft support.

The problem being the amount of air movements personnel and equipment available at both ends, to take care of tactical loading of the aircraft and the correct unloading on arrival.

Allowing for the normal gliches of war, from Kuwait to Northern Iraq the USAF could with a force of 12-20 C17, and say 20-32 C130, could deploy a brigade of three armoured/mech battle groups with tactical, and airhead logistic support capable of major operations within 7 days. And if I rightly remember the efficiency of the US military logistical system, probably less.

This is once more a prime example of why airborne units are needed, NO OTHER FORM of military unit can do what a airborne infantry battalion group can do. You cannot send a helicopter force some two thousand miles onto a landing zone in which the enemy are still extant.

As this war is showing helicopters are still quite fragile, pieces of equipment. So even if you can produce a ultra-long range helicopter, it is still going to go down with mechinical and electronic problems.

So no matter what the pundits have said in recent years, airborne units have once more proved they are doing the impossible.

Yours,
Jock in SYdney
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Since I posted the last message, I have received a email from a old friend, who still has a certain degree of input into the system. From he (totally unconfirmed of course) the actual descent, and the subsequent consolidation was text book, how actual training exercise should work but never do!.

USAF aircraft are flying in.

All I can say is - absolutely fantastic. I have spent many years banging my head against the thoughts of idiots who do not realise the concept of three dimensions.

Yours,
Jock in Sydney
 
Jock, I absolutely agree. This is the reason most Armies keep a major Airborne capacity. Most armchair generals think of Airborne ops as they read about them in their WW2 form. Times have changed, and so has the requirement for Airborne ops. The Airmobile concept can reinforce the vertical option, but certainly not entirely replace Airborne forces. I still have (a little) hope our Army will take a serious look at this op and realise we cannot mount even a simple coy op.
 
Any one see the news clip from CNN on this? LMAO one of CNN‘s reporters was there to greet them, and welcome them to northern Iraq
 
Yes, I saw that... but if the Iraqis had decided to take over the airfield, do you think the reporter could have prevented them to do so ? There were a few Special Forces operators on the ground, and a team from CNN. The SF troops probably acted as Pathfinders. It would not make much sense to drop 1000 troops on a DZ without recceing it first.
 
Sky soldiers dig in on the northern front
By Damien McElroy in Harir, northern Iraq
(Filed: 28/03/2003) THE TELEGRAPH (OF LONDON, UK)


Dozens of white 4x4s carrying American paratroopers raced between airbases and military camps in Kurdistan yesterday hours after they landed in the cradle of a mountain.

At the Harir airbase small knots of camouflaged troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, nicknamed "Sky Soldiers", dug foxholes around the perimeter.

The brigade was clearing the way for a massive airlift of troops and equipment for the US Army‘s 1st Infantry division, which was reported to have begun last night.

US transport planes also landed in the eastern part of the Kurdish-held north, witnesses said, with troops seen being deployed near the oil city of Kirkuk.

Sgt Mac, a member of the brigade‘s operations division, was one of the 1,000 paratroopers who landed at the base in the first combat parachute drop since Panama in 1989.

"It was muddy," he said yesterday. "It‘s all mud out there but that‘s good because it means we didn‘t break any legs coming down."

Beyond a stone wall just 20 feet from the first encampment, the new arrivals sniffed loudly as driving hail lashed against their faces and cursed the sticky, brown clay as it stuck to their shovels.

An "embedded" CNN reporter who had parachuted in with the first drop had excitedly declared that the United States troops had "seized" the airstrip - as if it were a slice of hostile territory.

On the contrary, the Americans were better protected than they could have hoped, with hundreds of Kurdish troops surrounding the airbase to keep journalists at bay.

The Harir airstrip, which was built by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, has been extended from two to three miles since last Wednesday to accommodate the Americans‘ heavy lifting aircraft. Bulldozers have cleared a wide apron and the taxiway clear of stone and rubble.

Nasir Mohammad, 35, a Kurdish peshmerga soldier who as a farmer yearns to return to the village from which Saddam‘s troops drove his family in 1975, said he cheered when he watched the parachute drop. "I was only seven years old but I think of our village often," he said.

"After the Americans win this war, I will go back there, to the three fields that my father owned, and build a house for all my family to live in. Inshallah, I will do this and so for this reason I was very happy when I saw the Americans landing last night."

From Harir to the front line with Iraqi forces, 40 miles away, there are many thousands of Kurdish troops, all of whom are suddenly dressed in camouflage uniforms. It is as if the army surplus shops around the world have been emptied for the Kurds.

Like Nasir they are assembling and preparing to back up an American assault. The latest launch pad for allied troops against the regime of Saddam is a muddy dip between two hills located 20 miles east of the Iraqi front line.

Kurdish officials declared the drop as the starting point of the northern front, suggesting that attacks on the front lines protecting the Iraq cities of Mosul and Kirkuk would begin as soon as the American troops reach levels in excess of 5,000 soldiers.

As the paratroopers landed, there came the first allied bombing run along the Iraqi positions opposite the town of Kalak, 20 miles west of Erbil.

As a result Kurdish militia intercepted 13 Iraqi deserters near the border town. They were taken immediately to American special forces bases for questioning on the position of Iraqi defences and the composition of Baghdad‘s troops standing between the Kurdish zone and the strategic cities.

Members of the 1st Battalion of the Hezi Taibate, Kurdish special forces, are arriving to take front line positions facing government-controlled territory.

Many had trained at a military academy in the northern town of Dohuk that was set up to raise the professional standard of the Kurdish militia.

Sadar Nost, 23, received his first uniform only on Tuesday. "We look something like a real army," he said. "But I worry that we still don‘t have guns like Saddam."
 
Regarding how parachute ops have changed over the years, it is important to know that the cutting edge para forces are now jumping the C-17 from 250 feet clean and 280 feet with a combat load. The old system of static line/deployment bag is gone in cutting edge units. To allow a safe deploying (and landing!) of the chute the canopy comes out and is forced open with compressed air first, and then the lines come out. I hear the Ruskies use a drogue chute while the Brits (who jump the Irvin Low Level) still use a static line system (albeit a twenty footer)...I may be wrong on this. I have yet to see one up close.
 
There is no high tech means of deploying tactical military parachutes, the static line is the current, and the only proposed means of deploying a canopy.

The US military still uses the T-10 parachute assembly.

See :
http://www.pioneeraero.com/ms/products/paratroo.html
for the various variants.

Irvin-GQ supplies all current British service parachutes.
See
www.irvingq.co.uk
which gives miminal details, but has some nice graphics on the current British tactical parachute.

Irvin CT-5000 Low Level Parachute is the current British tactical parachute. (it is also the front running contender for the US military replacement tactical parachute, the XT-11).

Whilst somewhat old, the following explains the system as is currently used:

Francis Tusa writes in the Armed Forces Journal International, October 1993 issue, page 24 article "The Cinderella of UK Land Forces fights for resources":

"Some equipment improvements are in store for 5 Airborne. The first is a new low-level parachute. Brig. Holmes was bullish about this item of equipment: ‘The new Irvin parachute is a world beating system. We will come down to a training height of 650 feet and an operational height of 250 feet. This is a quantum leap in terms of parachuting capability, no longer having to have C-130s popping-up to drop troops‘. The new parachute was slated for introduction last month, with a full battalion to be equipped by early 1994".
Andy Coghlan writes:

"Eight parachutists are to attempt a unique, low-altitude descent in September. They will leap from an altitude of just 75 metres--lower than Big Ben but higher than Nelson‘s Column.

The jump, by the parachute test team at Britain‘s Defence Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) in Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, will cap a decade of work trying to create a parachute that allows Paratroopers to descend safely from aircraft flying below the gaze of enemy radar.

Although special stunt parachutes exist for the sport of "base jumping", in which daredevils leap from tall buildings, these are aerodynamically unsuitable for military parachute drops.

The new parachutes are made from the same heavy-duty nylon as conventional military chutes. But instead of the usual "dome" shape, they look more like jellyfish, with tucked-in rims, and they capture air more effectively.

So far, Paratroopers have made more than 15,000 test jumps with the new parachutes, but none from altitudes lower than 250 metres. September‘s drop will be the acid test for the design. "From exit to full inflation takes around 4 seconds," says Mark Smith, squadron leader of DERA‘s parachute test team. That will leave around 30 metres of descent with a full canopy in the 75-metre drop.

The entire descent is expected to take 10 seconds. To avoid the possibility of serious injury, Smith and his colleagues will make the drop over a lake in the south of France.

Smith says the project is being watched closely by the world‘s armed forces. "There‘s considerable international interest in this trial," he says.
 
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