USAF PJs set HALO record

[havoc]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/09/29/skydive-halo-jump-record/71001001007/

[Lonewolf_50]

A team of skydivers led by a 73-year-old private astronaut have set a record by jumping from a balloon 38,000 feet in the air and successfully executing a dangerous military dive.

Larry Connor, who in 2022 was among the crew members on the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/04/09/spacex-first-all-private-mission-docks-international-space-station/9525757002/), was part of the Alpha 5 team that set the new mark for the highest HALO (high altitude, low open) formation skydive on Thursday.

In the skies over New Mexico, Connor and four U.S. Air Force specialists leapt from the balloon and linked arms while freefalling at speeds that reached 189 miles per hour before separating and deploying their parachutes when 4,000 feet above the ground. Having set that record (nice job!) what operational advantages does such a scheme offer to military parachutists? Is it practical?

[SASless]

In the video I watched....it appeared one of the jumpers could have been a SEAL....as he was kicking his legs like a Frog before he settled down!:oh:


Congratulations to the Jumpers and other folks who made it happen.....well done!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS_37CyNA1A

[pasta]

Having set that record (nice job!) what operational advantages does such a scheme offer to military parachutists? Is it practical?
I thought one advantage was that you could deploy undetected from something that looks on radar like an airliner (or at worst an overflying transport), and then open your parachute at a sufficiently low altitude to be over the horizon of your adversary's radar. Another variant I read about somewhere was using a parachute with a relatively decent glide (ie more like a paraglider) and opening very high, to reach a point far away from the track of your aircraft.

Health warning: I can't remember where I read this, so it's also possibly a figment of Tom Clancy's imagination!

[Video Mixdown]

I thought one advantage was that you could deploy undetected from something that looks on radar like an airliner (or at worst an overflying transport), and then open your parachute at a sufficiently low altitude to be over the horizon of your adversary's radar. Another variant I read about somewhere was using a parachute with a relatively decent glide (ie more like a paraglider) and opening very high, to reach a point far away from the track of your aircraft.

Health warning: I can't remember where I read this, so it's also possibly a figment of Tom Clancy's imagination!
Frederick Forsyth uses something similar to insert SAS target markers in ‘The Fist of God’. No idea if it’s an actual capability.

[Ascend Charlie]

Of course it is in use. We used to support the Singapore Army when they came to Oz to practice this, back in the 90s.

The soldiers would do the HALO thing, and they also had remote-control steerable chutes for loads (simulating a weapon supply) where the loads were dropped a long way from the target and they glided to the destination. We would then go looking for the loads that didn't respond to the radio commands and wandered away.

[BEagle]

[...]what operational advantages does such a scheme offer to military parachutists?

Those who know, know. Those who don't, don't need to know.....

[Union Jack]

Those who know, know. Those who don't, don't need to know.....
Indeed - I vividly recall suffering, fortunately only figuratively, from a sharp attack of ingrowing toenails when staffing the recommendation for a very high (pun not intended....) award for an action following a jump with the parachute deploying at less than half the height of the surrounding mountains - in a very narrow valley - at night....:ok:

Jack

[DogTailRed2]

How does this beat Felix Baumgartner who jumped from 128'000 feet? Is it just the low opening bit that's important?

[212man]

Frederick Forsyth uses something similar to insert SAS target markers in ‘The Fist of God’. No idea if it’s an actual capability.
yes it’s HAHO and it is a capability

[megan]

it appeared one of the jumpers could have been a SEAL....as he was kicking his legs like a FrogBack in the day when I did this stuff SAS the position they fly in was called the frog. SEALS have legs? ;)

[Lonewolf_50]

Beagle, get over yourself. A lot of us have worked with those folks.

To be clear, and perhaps I should have been less terse in my question ... what with the US shooting down high altitude balloons recently ... what advantage does HALO from a high altitude balloon offer?

[Post Flight]

Beagle, get over yourself. A lot of us have worked with those folks.

To be clear, and perhaps I should have been less terse in my question ... what with the US shooting down high altitude balloons recently ... what advantage does HALO from a high altitude balloon offer?
"Loose lips sink ships." Any other clues you need?

[Airmotive]

In the video I watched....it appeared one of the jumpers could have been a SEAL....as he was kicking his legs like a Frog before he settled down!:oh:


Congratulations to the Jumpers and other folks who made it happen.....well done!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS_37CyNA1A

I saw that too. It would have been bad form is this jump was out of an airplane, but with a zero airspeed exit, you don’t have any of your usual means for controlling your position. For the first 7-8 seconds, all you have are the same methods astronauts use in space. Our frogman appeared to be a camera flyer who was doing everything in his power to hold frame until he got enough airflow to work with.

[Sideshow Bob]

"Loose lips sink ships." Any other clues you need?
If you can google it then it's not lim dis. Too much crap has made its way onto wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_military_parachuting

[EXDAC]

One night I was camping out at a desert airfield that was visited around midnight by a couple of C-130 loads of military jumpers. It would have been a covert drop except that every jumper left their slider flapping in the wind and you could hear them all coming from a mile away. (If sport jumpers are smart enough to secure their sliders why don't military jumpers?)

The "no lights" C-130 landings and departures were impressive. Only a green glow from the flight decks.

[pasta]

To be clear, and perhaps I should have been less terse in my question ... what with the US shooting down high altitude balloons recently ... what advantage does HALO from a high altitude balloon offer?
Possibly just the ability to get higher in order to set a record?

[Lonewolf_50]

Possibly just the ability to get higher in order to set a record? Likely the case. :ok:

[Sue Vêtements]

Four grand isn't exactly what you'd call "low" though


mind you, I'm assuming this was simply bad reporting, given it also said and linked arms while freefalling

[Post Flight]

If you can google it then it's not lim dis. Too much crap has made its way onto wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_military_parachuting
Roger that, I hear you and you are right about wiki and wrong about adding to it or on other forums. General thinking seems to be, "well, it's already out there," I'll just add a little to show I'm an internet player who also knows. Zip it if you care about our operators.

[PukinDog]

Reading the articles it seems like the operative word for the jump altitude record is "formation" (where the team members linked-up during free fall), so I'm thinking there's been non-formation HALO/HAHO jumps from higher altitudes.

[SASless]

This is a good discussion re US Military Free Fall Parachuting (MMF).

Another article I read mentioned a 35,000 foot limit without going into the reasons.


https://sofrep.com/news/special-forces-military-free-fall-go-big-go-home/

[Bksmithca]

Roger that, I hear you and you are right about wiki and wrong about adding to it or on other forums. General thinking seems to be, "well, it's already out there," I'll just add a little to show I'm an internet player who also knows. Zip it if you care about our operators.
so what's next on your agenda, shutting down YouTube and USAToday newspaper. It is and was public knowledge before it was posted here

[Lonewolf_50]

I understand what Post Flight is getting at.
Aggregation of selected open-source info can offer sometimes open holes, if there is a credible aggregator involved.

[megan]

Four grand isn't exactly what you'd call "low" thoughThe recommended opening altitude for a tandem jump is 4,000 (or higher), these HALO chaps probably have good reason for making the opening height decision.

In any event the HALO record has just been broken, 23 Sept 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qga-rXhlkVc