Special Delivery: The U.S. Army Plans to Shoot Supplies to its Own Soldiers Inside Hollow Mortars
Pinned-down troops could receive fresh ammo in minutes.
U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Avery Cunningham
By Kyle Mizokami
Mar 9, 2017
The U.S. Army is researching a new way to resupply troops: by bombing them with mortars. The service was recently granted a patent for a method that uses hollow artillery shells, GPS, and parasails to deliver goods to soldiers pinned down on the battlefield.
In this era of automatic weapons, it's relatively easy to run out of ammunition. A soldier's basic load of 180 rounds for his weapon might run low during a firefight, prompting a need for more ammunition. But in the confusion of battle it can be hard to figure out where friendly ammo supplies are, and enemy fire may restrict a unit's movement.
Diagram showing how the Ammunition Resupply Projectile works.
Picatinny Arsenal
That's why the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey came up with the "Ammunition Resupply Projectile" (ARP). ARP is a hollow mortar round that can be packed with ammunition—say, 5.56-millimeter rounds for the Army's M4A1 carbine. As Picatinny Arsenal describes it, "a tail section is secured to the payload deployment section, which includes a steerable decelerator system. That system also houses a guidance and navigation system made up of electronics, power supply and a parafoil control mechanism."
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a25613/us-army-ammunition-resupply-projectile-mortar/
