<div
id="others"> <ul> <li> <a xhref="../../../../../-images/2009/09/24/51406/index.html"><img xsrc="../../../../../-images/2009/09/24/51406/size3-army.mil-51406-2009-09-24-100917.jpg"
width="150" alt="5th QM trains on new air delivery system
equipment"></a> <span class="caption"><a xhref="http://search.ahp.us.army.mil/search/articles/index.php?search=Sgt+Fay+Conroy">Sgt.
Fay Conroy</a><br /> Pvt. Shalice Mosby, a rigger with the 5th
Quartermaster Company, 21st Special Troops Battalion, practices
attaching the Firefly Joint Precision Air Delivery System to a load
during a new equipment training course held at Rhine Ordnance Barracks,
Sept. 18. The 5th QM Co. is the first regular Army unit to train on the
Firefly JPADS. </span> </li> <li> <a xhref="../../../../../-images/2009/09/24/51405/index.html"><img xsrc="../../../../../-images/2009/09/24/51405/size3-army.mil-51405-2009-09-24-100908.jpg"
width="150" alt="5th QM trains on new air delivery system
equipment"></a> <span class="caption"><a xhref="http://search.ahp.us.army.mil/search/articles/index.php?search=Staff+Sgt+Tyrone+Basnight">Staff
Sgt. Tyrone Basnight</a><br /> Airborne riggers from the 5th
Quartermaster Company, 21st Special Troops Battalion, learn how to use
the Firefly Joint Precision Air Delivery System during a class held at
Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Sept. 18. The two-week course allowed the
Soldiers to become certified with the 2,200-pound load-carrying capable
Firefly JPADS. </span> </li> </ul> </div>
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- The 5th Quartermaster Company, 21st
Special Troops Battalion, became the first regular Army unit to train
on the 2,200-pound load-carrying capable, Firefly Joint Precision Air
Delivery System, Sept. 7-18.
The 2K Firefly JPADS allows more accurate air drops into remote areas
and provides an opportunity for a more covert approach for the delivery
aircraft.
"This particular system has been in development for five or six years,"
said Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Davis, who was representing the Aerial
Delivery and Field Services Division of the U.S. Army Quartermaster
Corps Center and School. "It was developed from a radio-guided system,
which is now a GPS-guided system. You can put in the grid coordinates
to the destination you want it to impact, and once you log the grid
destination in there it gives the aircraft the ability to fly offset to
the drop zone."
The 2K Firefly is able to carry up to 2,200 pounds, and the point of
impact ranges from 50-150 meters to the grid point based on the weight
of the load it is carrying, said Davis.
According to information provided by the developer of the 2K Firefly,
users of the system only need to input the location of the impact point
and the weight of the load. The system reads the wind and flight data
automatically several times a second to make continual adjustments to
its flight path, so that it can land on the correct coordinates.
In addition to it being more accurate, the system also makes it easier for those on the receiving end.
"You can pinpoint where you want it to go, which makes it easier for
the person receiving it," said Sgt. Todd Harrell a rigger with the 5th
QM Co. "They don't have to search for it."
During the two-week training course, the riggers learned how to
properly lay out the system, how to pack it up, how to attach it to the
load and how to program it. After taking a test, the riggers were
certified to use the system for their air drops.
Source and credits : http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/09/24/27773-soldiers-train-on-newly-fielded-precision-air-drop-system/?ref=news-science-title0
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