JPADS: A newly-harnessed rescue capability

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Laura Balch
  • Nellis Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. --  For many years the Air Force has utilized Global Positioning System technology on bombs and other munitions to destroy targets. Only recently has the Air Force begun to employ this capability in a new manner.

The men of the 58th Rescue Squadron call it JPADS, and they say it is going to help them save lives.

Joint Precision Airdrop System is a capability that enables combat rescue officers, or CROs, and pararescuemen, or PJs, to guide bundles of equipment that are released out of an aircraft down to a specific location in a drop zone.

"We're currently in the initial phase of building a true precision airdrop capability for Air Force rescue," said Maj. Jose Cabrera, 58 RQS director of operations. "JPADS will give us the ability to conduct accurate airdrops from very high altitudes and with significant distance from the desired point of impact. This not only keeps the aircraft outside of small arms threats, but it also reduces the risk for the rescue team and isolated personnel."

The GPS technology included in JPADS allows rescue personnel to program a bundle prior to releasing it from the aircraft, which means the bundle will be "self-steered" to its destination in the same way a bomb would travel to its designated target. Alternatively, rescue personnel who jump behind the package, or who are already on the ground, can steer the bundle via a remote control.

"This system is brilliant," says Senior Airman Dalton Harper, 58 RQS aircrew flight equipment journeyman. "When JPADS is set in autonomous mode, it can judge wind direction, wind speed, altitude and its exact location as it's descending, which allows it to take the best path to its designated insertion point. When JPADS is in manual mode, a CRO or PJ jumping behind the package can control it using hand-held buttons and a computer screen that's strapped to his chest.

"If a CRO or PJ is already on the ground, he can control a JPADS package as it descends," added Harper. "This additional capability is important because it allows the operator to change the package's destination location, should the original location become too dangerous at the last minute. Without JPADS, it would be up to the navigator in the plane to judge the path of a package and there would be no chance of redirecting the package in mid-descent. Being able to control a package is pretty amazing."

Having this JPADS capability to conduct accurate airdrops is especially important because it saves time. With JPADS, equipment bundles will land exactly where the CROs and PJs need them to go, which means the rescue team members can reacquire their equipment on the ground and reach their final objective faster.

"JPADS is like having an electronic tandem-master parachutist in your team," said one of the 58 RQS PJs. "It removes human error and vulnerability and enables us to resupply operators with anywhere between 200 and 10,000 pounds of mission-essential gear that would be hazardous for the jumpers to bring in on their person.

"For every mission, we employ our team and reach our destination as quickly as possible, make our assessment and get to work on the patient," continued the PJ. "If we find that we need follow-on equipment, JPADS allows us to have the equipment dropped with precision, meaning it will land next to us and not next to the enemy."

CROs and PJs are trained to search for and to rescue isolated personnel in all environments. Whether they must SCUBA dive along the ocean floor, freefall out of a C-130 or climb up a rugged mountainside, CROs and PJs will go to great lengths to fulfill their motto: that others may live. But even though these highly-trained Airmen have skill sets that rival any other special operations personnel, they must have the necessary tools to get the job done.

"Whether we jump in tow with a guided equipment bundle, remotely control a re-supply bundle from the ground as the bundle falls from an aircraft, or simply airdrop a sustainment package to a downed Airman while awaiting recovery, this JPADS capability will revolutionize our ability to conduct Personnel Recovery anytime, anywhere," concluded Cabrera.