TT I have been out of the loop now for a good number of years. You sound in the know.
If it is not a secret could you tell us what the current Airdrop capabilities are? How many CDS containers, what weight of platforms from what height. Splits or Sequential. How many static line parachutists in a split or sequential stick.
I know what the aspirations were but have no idea where we are upto.
Same on the C130J. The baseline requirement was to replicate what we could do on the K. We were no where near when I left. Most we could do was one ton CDS.
Ken, I hear what you say about C17. Problem perhaps is the UK not wishing to invest in US Airdrop kit. Great reluctance over TypeV when we bought a few for C130J. I must admit most of this was politics rather than technical. We had been spoilt with Reefed Mains Extraction techniques. This would never have been safe with the B@P CHS or the Airbus version on A400.
Our attempts to employ our own UK chutes deployed by Static Line, as we had successfully done with PURIBAD rather than use the extractor to pull the mains using the EFTC to trigger. All down to petty internal politics. In my opinion and experience.