Air dropping humvees in a combat zone takes precision, planning and working parachutes, with a heavy emphasis on the parachutes. As the the 173rd Airborne Brigade recently learned, without them, your humvees will quickly turn to scrap.
The incident occurred April 11 while elements from the 173rd were participating in Saber Junction 16, a training exercise in Hohenfels, Germany. The video shows several cargo aircraft flying over the exercise area dropping various equipment. Within seconds, one of the humvees appears to lose its parachute rigging and hurtles to the ground, leaving a crater of dust as it lands. Later, a second humvee also loses its rigging and collapses to the ground. A soldier to the left of the man with the camera then says “there’s another one,” pointing to a third humvee that smashes into the ground as the camera pans left. Just before the video ends, one of the soldiers says “it’s on fire,” apparently referring to one of the downed humvees.
“The specific malfunctions that occurred on this day are under investigation,” said Army spokesman Maj. Juan Martinez to Army Times via email. “There were multiple rehearsals and inspections of the equipment prior to mission execution. We cannot speculate on what went wrong until the investigation is complete.”
Martinez noted that the destroyed humvees were part of a larger supply drop of 150 supply bundles, weapons and communications equipment. Approximately 5,000 military personnel from 16 European countries are participating in the ongoing exercise which is slated to end today. No injuries were reported from the botched drop.
The average humvee can cost as much as $225,000 each, meaning the loss likely cost the taxpayer around $675,000.
You can see the results of the destruction in the pictures below.
#skysoldiers#173d usawtfm pic.twitter.com/l7B80ARtuL
— WTF Nation (@TheWTFNation) April 12, 2016
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