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46th Air Brigade: JPADS launch operations from C-130J

  • 26/01/2022
Author: T.Col. Pompilio Sammaciccio
  • Source: 46th Air Brigade

An exercise of launching the JPADS system by helicopter took place on January 26 (Joint Precision Air Delivery). The activity, which was carried out by a plane C-130J of the 46th Air Brigade The Pisa exercise has great significance and is necessary to maintain this specific operational capability by the Air Force. The main training objective was to consolidate this capability in a simulated non-permissive scenario.

It JPADS it's a precision system for the release of air-transported supplies which consists of a GPS autonomous driving system, called AGU (Autonomous Guidance Unit) that allows the material to be launched from the aircraft at high altitude and to be landed with precision at a pre-determined impact point. 
 
Acquired by the Armed Forces in the 2000s, it was fully qualified on the aircraft C-130J through a campaign of Operational Test and Evaluation conducted by the 46th Air Brigade, from Experimental Flight Department and from Folgore Brigade.
 
The Air Force, in order to enable the maintenance of training levels and operational specialization of the crews of the 46th Air Brigade, as well as to consolidate interoperability with the Paratrooper Brigade Folgore of the’Army which provided the support for the conditioning of the materials in special containers and/or on specific platforms, organized and conducted the activity at the Salto di Quirra Joint Interforces Experimental and Training Polygon (PISQ), in order to optimize the means and resources of the Defense sector.
rilascio merci da aereo

In fulfilling the mission entrusted to the line C-130J,That is, contributing to the tactical and strategic movement of men, means, materials, and what is necessary to support their operations in order to fulfill the tasks assigned by the Defense; an essential role in increasing the precision, safety, and unpredictability of air launch operations is played by the planning and subsequent execution of material air launches using the system. Joint Precision Air Delivery (JPADS).

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