Army paratroopers completed two of three test drops to certify a new water and fuel container system for airdrops in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Each drop of two Lifeliner container-unitized bulk equipment, or CUBEs, delivered hundreds of gallons of water safely to the ground under dual, 100-foot-wide parachutes from over 1,000 feet.
The new container, a polypropylene bladder-like "blivet" nested inside a recyclable plastic box, can be transported by truck or sling-loaded beneath a helicopter, and unlike the old 500-gallon blivets, these 400-gallon systems can be stacked several high to reduce their storage footprint.
The CUBE is 40 percent the cost of the current model, and when collapsed, can be handled by one person and stacked for storage.
Validated airdrop-rigging procedures will ensure that, no matter where a force is on the battlefield, 400 gallons of fuel, water, or unitized supplies can be delivered by surface, sling-load, or airdrop. To date, 200 systems have already been fielded to deployed units with more on the way.
