Information About

Airdrop




An airdrop is a type of Airlift , developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible Troops , who themselves may have been Airborne Forces . In some cases, it is used to refer to the airborne assault itself. Early airdrops were conducted by pushing small crates with Parachute s out of the aircraft's side cargo doors. Later Cargo Aircraft were designed with rear access ramps, lowerable in flight, that allowed larger Pallet s to be rolled out the back.

As aircraft grew larger, the U.S. Air Force and Army developed ''low-level extraction'' — allowing Tank s and other large supplies to be delivered, such as the M551 Sheridan or M2 Bradley . Propaganda leaflets are also a common item to airdrop.

In Peacekeeping operations or Humanitarian Aid situations, food and medical supplies are often airdropped from United Nations and other aircraft.