The Israeli occupation army is preparing for the largest paratroop exercise in recent years in light of tensions on the northern border according to Haaretz newspaper.
In the exercise scheduled for mid-2018 all combat soldiers in the paratroop brigade will be dropped along with a large quantity of equipment. Combat troops from special units may also participate in the exercise.
The paratroop brigade has not made a major jump since 2012. This exercise will be part of extensive military preparations following warnings by security officials that Iran has resumed building a factory for precision weapons in Lebanon.
The 2018 paradrop exercise will be much broader than the one in 2012. It will involve night jumps in the south and drills to storm areas.
A military source involved in the preparations told Haaretz that aircraft will drop troops heavy equipment and ammunition as well as vehicles and food for the soldiers in the field during the exercise.
This is the first exercise in which the Israeli army will use a new parachute manufactured by the US firm “Airborne Systems.” This parachute makes drops possible and easier in different and more varied conditions than the one the army recently retired from use.
This will also be the first parachute drill using the “Super Hercules” transport aircraft which went into service in the Israeli air force in 2014. The aircraft is designed to carry heavier payloads than the previous Hercules model and to fly at lower altitudes. For example the Super Hercules can carry 92 paratroopers and their equipment or four military vehicles for special missions.
According to a senior officer expected to take part in the exercise “We are preparing for circumstances in which combat will be conducted far from home for a situation in which we’ll have to deal for quite some time with what we have in the field – food water and even vehicles.”
