Paratrooper drops… Campaings.

[Pawatwoop]

That's what I plan to do with my "Green Ramp" scenario... the irst for the campaign. Green Ramp is where the 82nd goes to load up a Pope.

[Shadowcougar]

I am buildind a campaign that starts with a enemy paradrop. It is a 2+ core company force for the experenced player. I am looking for someone to playtest the first battle. I am new at this and sp its a slow process and am having o learn the campaign building tools.

[Flyboy]

My issue with paratroops in either MBT version is the length of the drop-zone.

It seems like a transport will disgorge its troops over an area several kilometers long, as opposed to several hundred meters.

Having a company spread out over 15-20 hexes (7.5Kms - 10Kms) means you have to spend considerable time regrouping, as opposed to if they were dropped in 4-5 hexes (which, at 200-250 meters, would more closely approximate a real drop-zone).

My two cents . . .

[DRG]

One of the primary features about airborne operations is the fact that in real combat conditions , as opposed to demonstration and or training jumps , is that units get spread out all over the country side. Yes, you have to spend a consederable amount of time regrouping a company but your squads land intact within a fifty metre area which never happens in reality. They are spread out to simulate than airborne drops are usually confusing events for all concerned.

If you want tighter drops zones in a sceanrio give the pilots higher experience and put fewer troops in each aircraft and you will get smaller drop zones. The better the pilot ( and the lower the active enemy resistance ) the closer he will drop the troops to the DZ you picked

Don

[Pawatwoop]

Even in training from a C-130... 31 troops per door, 1 second stagger between each soldier at ~140 knots... I'm bad at math but that's...

160 mph
5280 feet per mile
844,800 Feet per hour
60 minutes in an hour / 844,800 ft = 14080 ft per minute
14080 / 60 seconds = ~ 234 feet per second.

234 feet * 31 seconds = 7254 feet for one stick. 1.3 miles.

You're pretty spread out under even ideal conditions. Change the aircraft to a C-141 and it doubles the paratrooper load as well as distance required. I don’t even know how many fit in a C-17… They were still being tested for jumpers when I left division.

Toss is PV2 Smith on his cherry jump tripping over his 100 pound ruck before reaching the door… and you have a few more seconds.

Only one pass in a combat jump… PFC Smith and everyone behind him ends up even further down the dropzone.

SF may be able to hit a football field… But not a BN or BDE size package in one pass.

Now, the way to counter this crazy spread in game is the same as in real life. Cross load your troops. Plane 1 has squad 1 from A and B Co. Plane 2 has squad 2 from A and B. Plane 3 and so on and so on. This puts your companies in roughly the same area of the drop zone. It also keeps entire companies from being wiped out if a single plane goes down.

In rehearsals we jumped with a 30-minute window to reach our rally point and move off the drop zone. And that was as a scout, so we had to move out first. Line units had varying rally requirements depending on the mission.

Also remember the term LGAP. Little Groups of Angry Paratroopers. The initial moments on the ground are meant to secure the immediate drop zone. Troops will be out of contact and will flock around whatever NCOs and officers are available at the time.

I remember one drop where OPFOR actually was firing on the drop zone as we jumped in… Looking to my left, then to my right for the nearest troops to help rally and take the fight to the enemy… What did I find? The Chaplain and the Chaplain Assistant. Doh! That put a stop to my aggressive dream of charging the enemy.

[DRG]

Flyboy said:

Having a company spread out over 15-20 hexes (7.5Kms - 10Kms) means you have to spend considerable time regrouping, as opposed to if they were dropped in 4-5 hexes (which, at 200-250 meters, would more closely approximate a real drop-zone).

My two cents . . .

I missed this the first time. Better check your math. 15 - 20 hexes is 750 - 1000 Metres NOT 7.5 - 10 kilometres !

You moved a decimal point. It's 50 metres per hex so we are exactly where we ought to be. Maybe even a bit too close together according to the previous post

Don

[Flyboy]

Oops, sorry Don. You're right.

And Pawa -- thanks for the been-there-done-that perspective. I've only done recreational jumps from a Cessna 182, getting out at 10 to 12,000 feet, and only a handful of those.

While even I can manage to land within a 10 meter box at the drop zone on a sunny summer afternoon, I know that's a world apart from getting out of a C-130 in the dark at 750 feet with 120 pounds of gear on your back. I have tons of manouever and steering time under the canopy that a paratrooper obviously does not.

Points well taken.

[Pawatwoop]

Yeah, the military chutes are made to get the lowest common denominator of trooper to the ground as quickly and safely as possible. They tend to just go down with extreemly limited steering ability.

I did some test drops last night. With 5 squads per plane, they averaged to drop one squad every other hex. So the stick spread over 10 hexes... Or 500m. That's a little short... But you can also figure in it's a 3-4 minute window with only 30-45 seconds in the air... So the other 2-3 minutes the trooper is hoofing it to link up with nearby squadies.