Posted on 02/03/2011 9:39:13 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
It was 0'dark-thirty and only the blue line of runway lights met the joint Air Force and Navy crew under the wings of a C-17 Globemaster III.
A 535th Airlift Squadron aircrew from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and the U.S. Navy Special Warfare Unit One from Guam teamed up to drop a boat out of the back of a C-17 using the Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System recently.
With more than 19,000 pounds locked in, and parachute riggings in place, the joint team strapped in was ready to go. The weather was ideal, the sea state was low and the jet had no maintenance issues. The training stage was set and execution was the only thing on their minds.
"This training is so important for forging and refining joint capabilities in the Pacific," said Capt. Alan Partridge, a 535th AS C-17 pilot. "The (Naval Special warfare Unit One) is extremely good at what they do, but don't have dedicated aerial delivery. The 535th is a fully capable airland and airdrop C-17 squadron in Hawaii with boat-drop-qualified aircrews. The more we train together, the more prepared we will be for (U.S. Pacific Command) and (U.S. Special Operation Command, Pacific) to leverage their assets in response to the challenges of the future."
The Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System is an airdrop insertion capability for Naval Special Warfare Rigid-hull Inflatable Boats and Special Operation Forces personnel employing Air Force aircraft. The system provides the special-operations community the ability to deploy the specially designed boat beyond the range of detection systems such as radar, infrared or thermal enhancement, acoustical sensors, human intelligence, signal intelligence and active patrols.
(Excerpt) Read more at asdnews.com ...
Link doesn’t work.
Top link works.
ping
Interesting drop package.
runway lights are white.....taxiway lights are blue....
Good one!
As a former USAF Crew Chief stationed at Hickam (many moons ago) I missed that.
Of course, back then, my "Ride" was "Old Shakey!"
aka "Cummulus Aluminus"
former AF here as well...altitude chamber tech..cheers
...AF vet here as well, except when I saw things “dropped” I expected things to go “BOOM”.
Ping.
SEALs pioneered the “rubber duck” back in the late 70s. We put zodiacs out of C-130s under a cargo chute, and static line jumped out after them. This is a lot bigger.
The inflatable tubes are mostly deflated to be lashed up over the pallet. It will be fully inflated after it hits the water. Sometimes these drops go very wrong, land inverted, main chutes don't open etc. It makes a very expensive splash.
Yeah, turbo diesel inboard jet boat. Made for the USN from a clean sheet of paper.
“Each detachment has up to 8 men and 2 boats, officially designed as the 11-meter NSW RHIB. These versatile boats, are the squadron workhorses. Each RHIB is powered by 2 turbo charge caterpillar in line 6 cylinder diesels with jet pump drive and can carry a SEAL squad size element at close to 60 knots. Like the MK V’s the RHIB carry machine guns, and grenade launchers, and they can do something that a larger boat cannot do they can be parachuted. “ It is a high-speed, high-buoyancy, extreme-weather craft with the primary mission of SEAL insertion/extraction.
- When needed, SEAL squads will deploy with an MCADS –(maritime craft, air deployable system) RHIB detachment. “ The MCADS detachment gives a deployed SEAL squad a unique capability. It can drop an 11-meter RHIB , a crew of 3 and a squad of SEALs from a C-130 aircraft into the water. “
Each MCAD detachment is required to complete 3 drops before going on deployment with the SEALs. And each MCAD launch requires at least 1 month of preparation by the parachute riggers of SBT 20 Air Operations. One week of rigging the boat and getting it ready to air drop and 3 weeks after the drop for recovery, which includes re-packing the parachutes, rehabilitating all the hardware and preparing for the next rigging cycle. The parachute riggers of SBT 20 are the only riggers in the Navy who prepare parachutes to deploy a boat, and SBT 20 is one of the few units in the world with this maritime deployment capability.
” This blend of SEALs and Special Boat Team combatant craft crewman allow SEALs to come from the air to the sea, and from the sea, over the horizon to the land, to conduct a land attack or maritime mission.”
Arrrgghhh! Blimey lads, they’re coming for us
That’s made from a clean sheet of paper?
Damn, that’s some serious origami. I need to learn how to do that. ;-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.