The IDF Logistics and Technology Directorate on Tuesday unveiled a number of new systems aimed at improving its ability to bring supplies to troops operating behind enemy lines.
The systems include a parachute that can carry several tons of equipment and uses a GPS to accurately arrive at its destination. Its level of accuracy, senior officers said during a briefing on Tuesday, is approximately 30 meters within the coordinates inserted into the GPS.
“The IDF has invested a great deal of resources since the Second Lebanon War in 2006 in creating a flexible ability to bring supplies to forces by air, ground and sea,” Brig.-Gen. Nissim Peretz, head of the Logistics Directorate, said.
In addition, the IDF presented a new cargo container that can be carried underneath transport helicopters which it is attached to by metal cables without slowing down the speed of the aircraft.
“Until now, heavy cargo containers carried by helicopters would force the aircraft to fly at about half its regular speed with the new container it can fly at almost it regular speed,” an officer from the Logistics and Technology Directorate said.
According to the officer, speed was particularly important when flying in areas such as the Gaza Strip and Lebanon where Hamas and Hizbullah are believed to be stockpiling air defense systems.
To enable the fast speeds, the new container comes with built in wings that were aerodynamically engineered to prevent wind resistance which would otherwise slow down the helicopter. The Air Force generally uses the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion – known as the Yasour – for logistics missions.
Another new technology unveiled on Tuesday was a specially-designed underground breathing system which has been supplied to the IDF’s Combat Engineer unit Yahalom, tasked with locating and destroying terror tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
The system, comprising of two 9 liter oxygen tanks fitted onto a special stand with a hose reaching the length of hundreds of meters, can be used to supply air to the unit’s soldiers who are sent into tunnels during future operations in the Gaza Strip or Lebanon.
In case the air supply is cut off, the soldiers will carry smaller tanks on them that they can quickly connect to and which will provide them with one hour of oxygen.