Posted on Jul 2, 2015
What is your opinion of the disposable parachutes ?
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I have heard the army is considering purchasing disposable parachutes that can be left or destroyed on the Drop Zone. This is in effort to reduce cost. What say you?
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 28
Where did you hear this? Are we talking about parachutes for personnel? I find that hard to believe considering the Army spent something like 10+ years developing the T-11. It's a solid chute that meets the Army goals they wanted in a new chute. I know it's not everyone's favorite chute, but the Army still thinks it's pretty wonderful.
I don't see the Army making disposable chutes since it was already incredibly expensive to make a parachute that met their current guidelines.
I don't see the Army making disposable chutes since it was already incredibly expensive to make a parachute that met their current guidelines.
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Hmm, I've logged more than a fair share of jumps and I have to say, the idea of skimming costs for 'chutes is disconcerting. If it's equipment chutes fine, you can replace that. But personnel? No thanks. Stick with what works and find other ways to save money.
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As a rigger I have dealt with these during our mobilizations. The LCADS or Low Cost Aerial Delivery System is a great tool for theater operations when ground forces need to retreive supplies quickly without recovering a traditional silk canopy and have to then worry about having another piece of equipment to lug around or get back to supply hubs. I haven't heard (and doubt they will ever go to a disposable unit for personnel due to risk of failure and no accountability. I am headed to 92R ALC (rigger) and will report back if I learn of anything.
http://asc.army.mil/docs/pubs/alt/2010/3_JulAugSep/articles/53_Low-Cost_Aerial_Delivery_Systems_(LCADS)_Provide_Soldiers_With_Critical_Supplies_201003.pdf
http://asc.army.mil/docs/pubs/alt/2010/3_JulAugSep/articles/53_Low-Cost_Aerial_Delivery_Systems_(LCADS)_Provide_Soldiers_With_Critical_Supplies_201003.pdf
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When I jump out of a "perfectly good airplane", I prefer a "perfectly good chute"
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I'm not a parachutist, but I would think that "non-disposable" parachutes would actually be more cost effective, since they can be reused how many times(?), repaired, and used more.
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Most of the air items in Afghanistan were recovered improperly and became disposable anyway. I am in favor of disposable items for cargo, not so much for people. We used T10s that were washed out for people, for LCLA with no problems. The truly disposable ones (Stalker parachutes) worked really well.
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Haven't heard of this one yet? You have a link? I think I prefer it to carrying my chute off the DZ, but then again that's not my problem anymore haha. As long as they are reliable and perform well, I'd jump it. Better than hearing the rigger say "it should be fine", which I've heard more times than I care to remember.
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SSG Gerhard S.
Unless you're making a mass-tactical combat jump you'd be carrying your chute off the DZ anyway. Additionally, if you're in any kind of covert operations, I.e. LRS, SF, etc, the chutes still need to be carried off the DZ and disposed of....
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