As of: March 28, 2024, 9:46 a.m
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The A400M transport aircraft lowering the four loads in a row: While three of the loads are already in the descent phase on the parachute, one is in the process of opening the parachute. © Lessentin/BW
The Bundeswehr carried out a spectacular training mission in Altenstadt: a test drop of special loads for the Gaza mission, designed by experts from the Altenstadt Airborne and Air Transport School.
Altenstadt - After the Bundeswehr pledged its support for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, it became clear that aid supplies would have to be dropped from the air due to the fighting on the ground. This requires special loads, which are designed by the air transport platoon experts at the Airborne and Air Transport School.
The order from the higher-level leadership to Altenstadt came somewhat surprisingly over a week ago. Special loads must be developed which can be loaded with various relief supplies and dropped safely over the Gaza Strip via parachutes - without using operationally important material and thus restricting the operational readiness of the paratrooper troops. The aim should be that the contents still end up in the war zone undamaged and can be picked up there by the Palestinian population in need of help without any additional danger. Such projects are the specialty of the soldiers of the Air Transport Platoon of the Airborne and Air Transport School, who have been setting standards for decades and can react quickly and flexibly to such orders thanks to their high level of qualifications and state-of-the-art facilities at the location. So the soldiers under Senior Ensign Sascha C., platoon commander of the air transport platoon, started work straight away and built up the required loads with creativity and high motivation. In order to ensure that they can be dropped off without damage, test drops had to be carried out today with the A400M transport aircraft over Altenstadt.
The first two loads to be loaded onto the A400M were also the last two of the four loads to be placed in a row. Both are equipped with two “T-10 Unipack” type cargo parachutes. For the other loads, further configurations with the G-12-D cargo parachute or modified T-10 personal parachutes were used © Säumlich/BW
Start in Lechfeld - test drop off via Altenstadt
In the afternoon it was time at the Lagerlechfeld military airfield. A Luftwaffe A400M transport aircraft from Wunstorf landed in Lechfeld in order to be available to the Altenstadt air transport train for the planned test drop.
Shortly afterwards, the assembled loads, which were brought to Lechfeld by air transport that morning, began to be loaded into the A400M. “It is particularly important here to load the loads in cooperation with the aircraft personnel in such a way that they are first transported safely in the A400M and later roll over the tail ramp one after the other in order to ensure an adequate canopy opening process,” explains Sascha C. during loading .
In the afternoon, the A400M flew from the usual direction towards the drop-off point north of the Franz-Josef-Strauss barracks. The open rear ramp could already be seen from the ground and one load was deposited in a row with five approaches and four loads with one approach.
“I am very pleased and proud that we were able to come up with a reliable solution in such a short time and can thus make a contribution to helping the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” said Lieutenant Colonel Martin Holle, commander of the airborne and air transport school . “The process impressively shows what is possible when you take “war fitness” and “operational readiness” seriously: a creative, operational solution that would probably have required months or years of development and testing time to be approved using the usual procedure. We are on the right track here.” Lessentin