Mil Tech — New Chutes to Outfit Paratroopers
Feb 01 2010
Fifty years is a long time to use any single design, but in the case of the Army’s T-10 parachute, it has stood the test of time. Yet change is inevitable and the Army’s new chute, the T-11, has undergone 3,200 test jumps and is starting to be fielded to units.
The T-11 — intended to be used in mass parachute assaults from altitudes as low as 500 feet above ground level — offers slower rates of descent, greater equipment carrying capacity, and decreased oscillation under the canopy. The maximum deployment altitude of the T-11 is 7,500 feet above sea level, and it can deploy at speeds up to 150 knots indicated airspeed.
The T-11 will replace more than 52,000 of the current chutes used by Army airborne units over a seven year period. Three firms — Aerostar International (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Airborne Systems North America (Santa Ana, Calif.), and BAE Systems (Phoenix, Ariz.), — share in the $200 million contract.
Greg Kraak, director of U.S. military programs for BAE Systems, calls the T-11 “something different” from its predecessor.
“The T-11 allows us to accommodate increased loads, which is necessary because the typical American’s physical size has grown in the last 50 years,” Kraak says. “And with the level of protective gear soldiers wear and carry, their protective plates, weapons, batteries, and equipment, they are heavier now when they come out of airplanes.”
BAE Systems will produce its first T-11 chutes in February and expects to deliver 2,200 by the end of the year. Approximately 10,000 T-11 parachutes are to be delivered to the Army by the end of 2010 by all three contractors.
Kraak points out that because the T-11 chute “brings the soldier down softer and with a slower rate of descent, it reduces the risk of injury, which is a great advancement over the older T-10 chute.”
About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the mystery novel, Full Moon, and several books on historical military small arms.
