Low-cost, low-altitude aerial resupply: an Army project to resupply units by airdrop developed from a concept to a valued combat operational capability in the hands of our Soldiers in just 16 months

Army Logistician, March-April, 2008 by Nicholas C. Zello, Daniel L. Labin

As for supporting our combat forces training for war at key collective training locations like the JRTC and fighting terrorists in places like Afghanistan, LCLA parachute systems continue to demonstrate their operational value, simplicity, responsiveness, resourcefulness, and reliability. The 782d Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) commander made the following comments on LCLA performance in a report to the 4th BCT's commander a few days after using LCLA parachutes to support a major field training exercise at Fort Bragg--

      The low-cost, low-altitude (LCLA) aerial delivery
   system was a real winner last week. The 4th
   BCT has an operational need for this system for
   resupplying small units by fixed wing and rotary-wing
   assets when we deploy to OEF ... 4th BCT
   has a further need to refine our TTPs [tactics,
   techniques, and procedures] and validate our use
   of the system at JRTC. We could use this system
   to deliver everything from ammo and batteries to
   water and rations ...; we are literally limited only
   by our imaginations.

Based on the remarkable success of the LCLA capability during the 782d BSB's exercise, the 4th BCT formally requested that the LCLA project team not only support its mission rehearsal exercise at the JRTC but also provide LCLA parachute systems to support the BCT as part of Task Force (TF) Fury while it is deployed to Afghanistan.

Meeting the Growing Demand for LCLA

To make the LCLA capability immediately accessible to our forces, the LCLA cross parachute and the LCC have recently been assigned national stock numbers by the ILSC and can be ordered through the standard supply system prepacked and ready for use by our deployed forces.

Key LCLA stakeholders initially began the process of manufacturing and providing LCLA parachute systems to meet the growing operational requirements of our forces in Afghanistan. The LCLA project team delivered 600 LCLA parachute systems to our forces in theater to support OEF requirements while simultaneously working to institute contracts to manufacture and deliver an additional 5,000 LCLA parachutes that were requested by TF Fury. All 5,000 were delivered by Federal Express to TF Fury, with a turnaround per LCLA shipment of 4 to 6 days. The LCLA project team is currently delivering 110 LCLA parachute systems per week, with the goal of ramping up to 150 per week.

To formally institutionalize the process to meet the long-term demand for LCLA, the ILSC recently awarded a multiyear, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to allow production of LCLA cross parachutes by several manufacturers, which has led to much greater production rates. The contract basically picks up where the LCLA project team's production efforts dropped off. The contract allows the Army to requisition up to 20,000 cross systems if the demand from the field requires them.

Led by the efforts of PM FSS and ILSC, the LCLA project team fulfilled the TF Fury requirement of 5,000 LCLA systems with a mix of 2,800 LCLA cross parachutes, 2,200 LCLA T-10 and T-10R parachutes modified for cargo delivery, and 5,000 LCLA LCCs.