As if on cue from the BBC:
LATEST:RAF aborted airdrop over mountain in Northern Iraq overnight amid fears people may be injured by it, Downing St say
The low return of the 'chutes very quickly depleted the UK stock of 18 and 28 foot parachutes. I doubt that we could sustain any prolonged airdrop commitment given the parlous state of the UK airdrop stores.
Edited to add: It's my understanding that only the USAF is using free-fall, and that the RAF
is using parachutes (at least they were on the footage I saw on Sky).