Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
these days when every kid in the Middle East and Africa has immediate access to his/her own AK-47 mass para drops are likely to be a very bloody operation if carried out in day light
Actual combat experience proves you wrong. Operation Northern Delay during the Iraq War in 2003 involved the airdrop of about 1000 paratroops into Bashur Airfield. Granted, the DZ had been somewhat secured by Special Forces troops and Kurdish fighters. The airdropped troops secured the airfield which enabled M1 Abrams tanks to be airlifted there. Those forces on the Iraqi northern flank forced Iraq to commit six divisions to protect their flank. Six divisions that could not be used to engage the forces invading from the south. This type of operation is called a Strategic Brigade Airdrop and one of the missions the C-17 was specifically designed to perform. So yeah, mass paratroop drops are still very much relevant.