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JPADS basic weight class focuses on low-cost systems such as
the Screamer and Affordable Guided Airdrop System (AGAS), developed
by Capewell Components Company, LLC of South Windsor, Connecticut
and Vertigo, Inc. of Lake Elsinore, California. This system
is designed to deliver military payloads weighing up to 2,200
lbs. (1 ton) using standard army cargo parachutes and containers.
For safety, landing velocity is minimized reducing hazards to
personnel and other cargo within the drop zone. AGAS utilizes
conventional parachutes (G-12 flat, circular cargo parachute
and A-22 Container Delivery System (CDS).
The system can also be used for accurate high-altitude release
and is claimed to offer greater safety, reliability and accuracy
compared to high glide delivery. AGAS system includes an auto-pilot
linked to a GPS-based guidance, navigation and control system
and weather data mode embedded in an airdrop Mission Planning
(MP) tool. Optimizing the flight plan based on an accurate profile
of winds that it will encounter over the drop zone the auto-pilot
guides the delivery system to the designated drop-zone at near-pinpoint
accuracy. During tests conducted by the U.S. Army in 2004 and
2005, 11 AGAS units were dropped over a three day period from
13,000 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL) achieving a Circular Error
Probable (CEP) of 50m. These systems demonstrated their ability
by flying to multiple drop zones, when three units were released
in a single airdrop pass with each flying to a different target
on the drop zone.
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 Similar
performance is provided by the Onyx,
developed by Brooklyn based Atair supports 500 and 2,000 lbs
(0.2 – 1 ton) class payloads utilizing hybrid elliptical
ram-air/round canopy design. The Canadian Sherpa,
developed by Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology, Inc.
(MMIST) also supports payload capacities of up to 2,200 lbs
(1 ton). Parafly offers the FireFly
carrying 500 - 2,200 lbs (0.2 - 1 ton). An interesting feature
introduced with the FireFly is the roadway landing feature,
enabling the user to designate an azimuth for landing rather
than the default into-the-wind heading to take advantage of
roads and other paved surfaces for cargo retrieval.
The first JPADS-XL combat airdrops took place on Aug. 31, 2006
in Afghanistan. Following the successful demonstration, by early
2007, several JPADS XL systems were acquired by US Joint Forces
Command (USJFCOM) and deployed in Afghanistan to support US
Special Forces. According to Bob Hartling, Limited Authority
Acquisition (LAA) branch head at USJFCOM, the systems proved
very so successful in their pre-deployment phase that combatant
demand for JPADS 2,000 lbs (1 ton) systems in the battlefield
has surged. "It has been considered as a means for reducing
the number of convoys in other regions, as the cargo pallets
can now be deployed to different specific
locations from a single aircraft, rather than the traditional
deployment of all pallets along a single multi-mile delivery
corridor," said Hartling. By February 2007 the systems
were also deployed in Iraq, where aircrew members from the 332nd
Air Expeditionary Wing's 777th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron
used JPADS for the first time to deliver six 1,200 lbs (545
kg) bundles.
Topics covered in this article:
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