Military freefall

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Tandem HALO jump, altitude 4500 m

Military parachute method are a Verbringungsart into action and are divided into jumps to automatically open (forced triggered) round canopy parachute from low altitudes, the aircraft is exited located during the automatic jump from low height directly above the settling and landing zone, and Military Free Fall (MFF) with surface parachutes from great to very great heights.

During the free fall jump in high altitude, low opening , abbreviated as HALO, the drop plane flies over these at high altitude. The parachute is only opened manually at a lower height after the jump. During the gliding operation, the HAHO, the drop-off aircraft is at a great height far away from the planned landing area, the jumpers glide towards the distant landing area after opening immediately. The transport aircraft must switch off existing flare launchers to drop parachutists , as the jumpers would otherwise trigger them when jumping.

For freefall jumping operations, mainly remote spying and commando units as well as combat swimmers are trained, as these mostly consist of professional soldiers and freefall training is complex. The purpose of the MFF is to transport soldiers unnoticed through the air into the deep enemy space or to land at important operational objects (key points). MFF is divided into

  • HALO for Low Opening - High Altitude dt. High Altitude - Low Opening for jumping from a great height and manual opening of the screen at low altitude,
  • HAHO for High Altitude - High Opening dt. High altitude - high opening for jumping from a great height and manual opening of the screen at high altitude with subsequent sliding insert.
  • HAAO is new for High Altitude - Automatic Opening with forced-release paragliders.

For jumps with oxygen from up to 30,000 ft (around 9000 m), the delimiting term VHA jumps is used for very high altitude.

HALO

Pararescuemen during a HALO jump, Djibouti , Africa

HALO freefall parachute jumps were used to free-fall military parachutists outside the range of the medium air defense . High-performance ParaCommander Mark I and II round caps were used for this jumping procedure. The origins date back to 1959, when the United States Air Force began experiments on emergency exits for pilots at high altitude as part of Project Excelsior . As part of this project, Colonel Joseph Kittinger performed the first altitude jump on November 16, 1959 from a height of 23,165 m above ground. The first HALO jumps under combat conditions were completed by members of the MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War over Laos . With the introduction of paragliders, the procedure was replaced by the HAHO.

HAHO

HAHO-Springer at the ILA 2008
HAHO jumpers with map, compass and oxygen helmet (2008)

HAHO is the abbreviation for High Altitude - High Opening (large jump height - large opening height). The jumper is set down at a great height and, depending on the wind conditions at high altitude, about 40 km away from the planned landing point in order to avoid endangering the transport machine and to disguise the location of the landing zone. The distance is determined from the glide ratio of the wing parachute, high wind speed and dropping height. Seen from the target, the drop-off point is always against the wind direction so that the jumper can slide towards the target with the wind. In the typical HAHO jump, the jumper is dropped from the aircraft at a height of around 8,000 m (26,000  feet ) and after a few seconds opens the parachute in a stable free fall, and then glides in the group towards the target on the open parachute. The jumpers use an instrument display with compass and GPS with saved waypoints to orientate themselves. The difficulty lies in the navigation taking into account the real wind conditions. The jumper can be pushed past the landing zone by a wind axis other than the one that is meteorologically predicted and planned and thus cannot reach the landing zone.

HAAO

The latest process is the automatic opening of the paraglider using a pull-up line at great heights (HAAO, High Altitude - Automatic Opening). With this procedure, the jumper does not have to master the stable free fall, but only has to control the paraglider in a group. This type of transport is therefore also suitable and can be trained for infantry forces up to tensile strength. In some cases, as with the French special forces, jumping is done manually, with an auxiliary parachute triggered by the lowering device or, as was previously the case with the freefallers of the NVA air storm regiment 40, with an auxiliary stabilization parachute.

Differences between HALO and HAHO

The main difference between HALO and HAHO is the opening height of the umbrella. While with the HALO the screen opens as late as possible, at a height of around 800 m above ground, with the HAHO the screen is triggered shortly after leaving the aircraft. The dropping height for HALO / HAHO jump procedures is 8,000 m. But even from 4,000 m to 4,500 m above ground, gliding distances of up to 40 km can be reached, depending on the altitude wind conditions.

The HALO technology was used from the time of the Vietnam War to bring the transport aircraft out of the immediate area of ​​action of the troops and cannon anti-aircraft defense when dropping parachutists. However, this procedure required extensive training due to the free fall. The HALO process is no longer in use today; It dates from the time when high-performance round canopies were used to jump, with which no gliding was possible, but which were intended to avoid endangering the aircraft from air defense. The HAHO process was developed due to the threat to the launch aircraft from anti-aircraft missiles with ever greater range and the development of paragliders . In this case - depending on the possible glide path with wind - jumping away from the landing zone and sliding towards it after opening immediately. In both procedures, the infantry combat and reconnaissance equipment is carried as parachute jump luggage, and not, as was previously the case, lowered on the lowering rope several meters below the jumper after the canopy opening, as is the case with the automatic round-cap parachute. This could lead to it acting like an anchor during the landing approach.

Freefall training for the Bundeswehr

The aim of the military free fall jump training is the closed use of sub-units. The training goal of the freefall courses are

  • Part 1 free fall parachute jump up to 3650 m above sea ​​level by day and night and safe landing in a landing area of ​​50 m × 50 m.
  • Part 2 Ability to safely reach a given landing area with equipment and weapons up to 9000 m above sea level by day and night as well as with limited visibility.
  • Part 3 To plan, organize and lead manual skydiving missions, to drop manual skydivers as droppers and to train as an oxygen safety attendant.
  • Part 4 to safely land people or luggage up to 100 kg with a tandem free-fall parachute jump system during the day and with limited visibility, even above 3650 m above sea level.

Typical HALO / HAHO equipment

  • Barometric altimeter on the wrist for free fall, in front of the chest for target jump and gliding
  • Acoustic height warning
  • Automatic opening device that automatically triggers the umbrella below a specified height if it was not opened manually
  • Parachute parachute knife, as a safety device in plastic protected blade without point like belt knife
  • Parachute jump helmet (often full-face helmet )
  • Gloves
  • Jump boots (no hooks, reinforced ankle protection)
  • Foot and knee bandage stockings to protect them from injuries when landing in the terrain, as well as a padded kidney belt to protect the lower spine when landing in rough terrain
  • Skydiving combination and thermal clothing with kidney belt
  • Equipment for gliding use - spherical compass and GPS device on chest panel
  • Oxygen cylinder and oxygen mask for jumps over 4000 m or for gliding operations
  • Military equipment with weapons and ammunition, explosives, radio equipment, optical reconnaissance equipment, food and field and bivouac equipment, weighing between 20 and 80 kilograms, must be packed in a jump bag to prevent accidents and the like. a. by hanging the cap lines
  • For night jumps, stroboscopic lamp ( distress marker ) on the back of the helmet
    • LED permanent lights for identification (front and left red - rear and right green), small side lights or flashing lights - for illumination of the altimeter and compass, weakly glowing light stick
  • Complete wetsuit and inflatable life jacket for parachute jumps in water

In 2006 the Bundeswehr introduced the ParaFinder system from EADS for HAHO missions with 300 units for special parachute trains , special forces command and combat swimmers . New here is among others a heads-up display , which the soldier using GPS navigation the way to the landing zone ( landing zone has, LZ). The HAHO tests up to 7.6 km in height were completed in May 2007. ParaFinder enables soldiers to be transported with pinpoint accuracy from heights of up to 10,000 m and over distances of over 50 km. This means that transport machines such as the Transall or A400M can stay out of the range of most anti-aircraft weapons. The education of the parachutists is almost impossible. HAHO parachute jumps, like all parachute jumps, are conditionally dependent on the weather. A planing operation in thunderstorms or very strong winds is very risky.

The first freefall system for HALO introduced in the Bundeswehr was the ParaCommander , the first paraglider system of the MT-1a , still with reefing line and without inner packaging, after conversion to Slider MT-1c , partly with a short packing tube.

This system was replaced by the newly introduced parachute system SOC-TWIN-TW -7 280 or 300 (seven -cell with 280 or 300 sqft canopy size) and the SOC-TWIN-TW-9 from Paratec in Wallerfangen . The TW-11 serves as an 11 cell for tandem and heavy loads to transport loads of up to 100 kg plus tandem jumper over 50 km in gliding operation. Tandem passengers as a load can u. a. be a field intelligence officer, EOD specialist, emergency doctor or service dog handler with a service dog.

Stabilized free fall

Stabilized free fall used to be a special form of automated free fall jumping among paratroopers of the Warsaw Pact, such as in Air Storm Regiment 40 . In free fall, jumping was carried out from medium heights up to 4000 m GND and the parachutist was stabilized with a small braking parachute released before or during the jump . When the release height was reached, the main canopy was released either by the automatic opening device KAP-3 or manually by the parachutist.

Load and heavy load shedding with parachutes

The specialized SEAL Team 6 of the United States Navy further developed the HALO technology for the dropping of loads in order to drop boats or other large items of equipment. In order to deposit military supplies, the cargo is pushed outside through the rear hatch. A small parachute stabilizes this in free fall. The main parachute (s) are then opened by means of automatic - mostly barometric or time-controlled - release in order to ensure a safe, braked landing.

In the US Army, the automatic load shedding process with round canopy parachutes was replaced by the GPS-controlled load parachute system , English Joint Precision Airdrop System , for the automatic transfer of large loads with parachutes. In the Bundeswehr the Cassidian ParaLander is used for load shedding procedures with paragliders.

public relation

For public presentation and advertising, some armed forces maintain demo teams both in the army and in the special forces of the navy and the air force capable of falling free - see below. a. the US Army, the United States Army Parachute Team Golden Knights and the Navy Leap Frogs of the SEALS.

Overview of associations with MFF-capable sub-units

United States

Great Britain

Canada

France

Singapore

Germany

Australia

Spain

Italy

Czech Republic

India

  • 1st, 2nd, 9th, 10th and 21st Battalions of the Parachute Regiment (Special Force), Indian Army
  • Marine Commandos, Indian Navy.

Israel

Iran

Pakistan

  • Pakistan Army Special Services Group.

Poland

Switzerland

Austria

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ to the battle zone
  2. ↑ only rarely used because there is a high risk to the transport aircraft
  3. ^ Army's New Parachute System - RA-1 Ram Air Parachute Jump
  4. ↑ Le meilleur du monde de Jamy - Lioda, malinois et membre des forces spéciales Le meilleur du monde de Jamy - Lioda, malinois et membre des forces spéciales Application HAAO with tandem for dog handlers with service dogs
  5. ↑ youtube.com
  6. ↑ Endurance test extreme Die Freifaller (1) and Die Freifaller (2)
  7. ↑ Air Force Special Operations Night Jump - Static & HALO Jumps Out Of C-130H
  8. ^ Scott Gourley: Call it what you will: It's support from the air . In: Military Logistics International . Vol. 3, No. 5 (February / March), 2008, pp. 9 (English, quantico.usmc.mil [PDF; 2.9 MB ]). quantico.usmc.mil ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.quantico.usmc.mil
  9. ↑ paratec.de Paratec military parachute systems
  10. ↑ Paraglider canopy TW11 444
  11. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYt4JH115CE Golden Knights parachute into Darrell K. Royal Stadium
  12. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYCkCoIdqA US Navy Leap Frogs - Behind The Scenes
  13. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHsol_j0J-Q&t=43s Leap Frogs Jump into Neyland Stadium (3)