Accurate Airdrops in Afghanistan Resupply Remote Locations - JPADS

A record number of supplies were dropped by parachute in 2011 to remote locations in Afghanistan by the United States.  Advanced technology has provided the ability to resupply our troops with great precision. The new technology is called Joint Precision Air Drop System or JPADS.  The troops stationed at these small combat outposts can worry less about running out of water, food, ammunition, radio batteries, and medical supplies and concentrate on their mission.  The airdrops also provide for a safer method of resupply; reducing the amount of time that combat support troops spend on roads targeted with IEDs. This advance in resupply technology is especially important for special operations forces conducting Village Stability Operations in remote, austere locations that experience rough weather, roads in poor condition, difficult terrain, and the ever present IED threat.  Read more in "Pinpoint airdrops key to success in Afghanistan", USA Today, February 1, 2002.

Video of Joint Precision Air Drop System or JPADS resupply
to a remote location in Afghanistan.  (Video by Tech. Sgt. J. Wilcox)

Picture above depicts the GPS guided Screamer 2K bundle, Joint Precision Air Drop System after having been dropped from the back of a C-130 Hercules aircraft over Afghanistan.  (U.S. Air Force photo, Senior Airman Brian Ferguson)