Not to be disagreeable but...I am a paratrooper
Airborne drops are still very relevant, which is why nearly every country in the world maintains some form of parachute infantry formation. For some good examples of post-WWII parachute drops:
-Operation Dragon Rouge in Zaire,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dragon_Rouge
-Tangil Drop, 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, classic use of vertical envelopment:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangail_Airdrop
More recently a battalion of the US 75th Ranger Regiment jumped into Kandahar early during Operation Enduring Freedom, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade jumped into norther Iraq in 2003. That last jump has been criticized because the drop zone was already secured by special forces, but the fact is the brigade jumped because landing that many aircraft and debarking the troops would have taken hours as opposed to the minutes it takes to deliver the troops by parachute. Also, the French 11th Parachute Brigade dropped 250 soldiers into Mali to help secure Timbuktu in 2011, and Pakistan dropped paratroopers to secure key terrain against the Pakistani Taliban in 2009.
I'm not denying that airborne operations aren't inherently risky and only appropriate under very specific circumstances, but a massed armored assault is also only appropriate under certain circumstances.
As far as paratroopers and MANPADs in the real world, just do a google search for "Stinger Missile Jump Pack." I've jumped it (not with a missile inside), and it's no fun, but it gets stuff to the ground intact.
Anyway, not asking for anything to change in any OOB, just want to stick up for us lowly paratroopers!
Re: Para SAMs?
Hybrid Mode
