From missile defenses to parachutes...you never know where Defense Tech will take you.
It sort of jibes with Noonan's last video post -- which I'm still wiping the tears off my face from laughing so hard -- but the Army has begun fielding -- for the first time in 50 years -- a new parachute for its general purpose airborne forces. By that I mean, it's a replacement for the 1950s-era T-10 "mass tactical, non-maneuverable parachute system."
The new parachute -- developed by Natick -- takes up a bunch more surface area than the T-10 and slows the decent of a Soldier by nearly 50 percent, PEO Soldier says. One Soldier was quoted as saying it looks like you're floating down on a fitted bed sheet, since instead of the old-school rounded canopy, the T-11 sports a more squared off one.
Now, officials say this new chute is designed for today's heaver Soldier with more gear and helps increase the Soldier's effectiveness in the field by giving him a much less jarring ride to the ground.
The T-11 Parachute : Soldiers Speak from PEO Soldier on Vimeo.
Check out the PEO Soldier video -- I don't know about you, but I might feel a bit like a sitting duck floating down into enemy territory so slowly like that. But then again, I've never jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.
-- Christian
