From:	WILLIAM FRIERSON <will1am@*****.ASU.EDU>
Subject:	Airdropped Vehicles (was Rigged Banshee Drivers)
Date:	Sat, 17 Jun 1995 03:59:10 -0700

gurth@******.NL (Gurth) wrote:

>The U.S. Marines did tests like dropping LAV-25s out of the back of a C-130,
>I believe. I know for sure Russian paratroops drop similar vehicles by
>rocket-parachute-thingies (normal parachute keeps the rate of descent down,
>and a few meters above the ground a rocket booster cuts in to slow you down
>much more). OK, that's not LAPES, but those ASU-85 _are_ (were?) dropped
>with crew in them...

I've never heard that the crew was dropped in the vehicles. I remember
watching the crew run to the pallets and then enter the vehicles. Those
things come down _hard_, even with the rockets. The ASU-85 has been
replaced with BMD`s modified with 120mm mortars mounted in a turret
(designated SO-120's). Bad news for the rear area troops who have to
fight them.

Later

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William Frierson Internet: WILL1AM@*****.asu.edu