Maryland Air National Guard cargo crews are prepping for an expected deployment to Afghanistan next year, flying a critical mission of air-dropping supplies to U.S. troops fighting in remote locations.
Delivering ammunition, rations and water by parachute from the Guard's C-130J cargo planes is increasingly necessary in Afghanistan, not just because troops are being scattered to small, local bases as part of a new strategy, but also because of the growing danger that ground convoys will be attacked by Taliban insurgents, senior U.S. officers said. The more cargo that goes by air, the less risk to soldiers on convoys.
"We're saving soldiers' lives," said Lt. Col. Mike Mentges, a Maryland Air National Guard pilot who flew missions there last year.
To make drops from altitudes ranging from 700 to 25,000 feet, a C-130 lowers its rear ramp, pitches its nose up sharply and unleashes up to a ton of cargo packed in pallets that float down under parachute canopies.
Under extreme conditions such as bad weather or a firefight raging in the drop zone, the Guard can rig a pallet with a satellite location receiver and a steerable parachute, and the cargo will maneuver itself to precise coordinates as much as 10 miles away.
Theoretically, at least, the Maryland Guard could deliver ammunition and rations to a Special Forces team trapped on a high mountain ledge under heavy mortar fire - in a midnight blizzard.
Air-dropping supplies in combat is difficult and risky. But road convoys are so often the target of insurgent attacks that U.S. commanders are now forced to deliver all weapons and ammunition in Afghanistan by air, said Air Force Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, who heads the U.S. Transportation Command. Less critical supplies go by road in safer areas.
American commanders are trying to avoid the fate of Russia's Red Army, which was defeated in 10 years of combat in Afghanistan in part because it couldn't easily resupply its ground forces. Struggling to force their way through insurgent ambushes, improvised explosive devices and land mines, the Russians lost 11,389 trucks, 2,452 armored personnel carriers and command vehicles, and 147 tanks, according to a 1995 U.S. Army study.
Today in Afghanistan, U.S. military convoys that crawl past the rusted wreckage of Red Army vehicles move under heavy guard, usually accompanied by helicopter gunships and jet fighters overhead. Despite precautions, 33 U.S. and allied troops have been killed since Jan. 1 by roadside bombs on Afghan roads.
