Air Force Research Laboratory's Aerospace Systems Directorate demonstrated high-altitude precision airdrop during a test flight in November 2020.
AFRL said Friday that it dropped bundles of the Optimized High Altitude Low Opening cargo delivery system that weighed over 1,900 pounds, with batches of four, six and 16 units.
The tests ran from Nov. 16 to 19 in Yuma, Arizona. Researchers divided the bundles between legacy and modern systems to properly differentiate performance rates.
“The main goal was to demonstrate the capabilities of the Optimized High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) technology, which includes probabilistic airdrop planner algorithms and variable transition altitude in wireless activation device,” said Daniel Schreiter, the program manager for precision airdrop at AFRL.
The new HALO technology is designed to allow for high-altitude drops, and AFRL plans to further modernize airdrop capabilities as future requirements arise.
