How Massive Humvees Are Airdropped From the Sky

Humvee stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle.
Loukia Papadopoulos

If the video player is not working, you can click on this alternative video link.

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a Humvee being airdropped from the sky!!! If you've ever heard this statement before, it is likely you have witnessed the famous airdropping of these military vehicles.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start with the basics: What are Humvees? The term stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, and they are a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks, and utility vehicles that gained prominence in the Gulf War of 1991 for their ability to navigate the treacherous desert terrain.

What they are really famous for, however, is being airdropped into battlefields. How does this work? The vehicles are equipped with a parachute system and then loaded into a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III where they are transported to the exact location where they need to land. Once there, they are then dropped from a height of 5,000 ft (1,524 m) and somehow manage to land safely in their respective battlefields. 

How much do Humvees weigh and how do they manage to land safely from so high above? How many types of airdrops are there and what is the key criteria of each one? We answer these questions and more in our video.

Add Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.
Add Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.
message circleSHOW COMMENT (1)chevron
Job Board