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Comment by bigiain | Hacker News Reader

> When dropping a payload from a drone or aircraft, this gliding angle means parachutes will often drift far from their intended targets. This can be especially frustrating and potentially dangerous for operations such as humanitarian aid delivery, where precisely targeted airdrops are often vital to success.

I could't help but roll my eyes at this textbook example of describing new technology as being "useful for humanitarian or search & rescue work", instead of the much more obvious usefulness in military applications.

Who's kidding who about what "precisely targeted airdrops" are most likely to be used for? These will be in use by Ukraine well before anything beyond a technology demo drops on to a "stranded hiker" in a National Park...

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I thought the same at first, but actually - you don't want your bombs to fall slowly. Supply drops are another matter. These don't kill people directly at least.

This looks like a good way if not only ensuring that things fall slowly, but also ensuring that they fall in the proper orientation. Gravity bombs typically use fins at the back for this purpose, but that makes them actually turn into the wind by pushing the back of the bomb in the direction of the wind. Smaller fins combined with some drag provided by such a parachute as this, could help gravity bombs be more resistant to winds, while ensuring that the fuse stays pointed down.

I want my landmines to fall slowly, directly and land in a specific orientation. I also want to keep the cost low so that I can distribute a whole lot of them.

You do when you're flying low and you need to escape the munition's effective radius.

Retarded bombs are slowed with a variety of mechanisms, from spring-loaded airbrakes to inflatable ballutes to parachutes. Fuzing can range from superquick for conventional bombs to extended timers for nuclear weapons, all depending upon the application. These parachutes would be great for low flying drone bombers as well as munitions that are highly attitude-sensitive (such as those with improvised fuzes).

Both can be simultaneously true.

Dropping supplies to isolated or behind-the-lines forces is a very real logistical issue. While some of those supplies might be munitions, rations and medical supplies are a significant part of the need.

I know, it doesn't make you feel any friendlier to the issue, but tech has multiple applications. Chainsaws were invented to increase survivability of mothers in difficult births.

This is for Amazon deliveries. The whole thing is written for that, the material is the same as their packaging even.

Bombs go down fast, specially from drones, there's no advantage in slowing them down.

>I could't help but roll my eyes at this textbook example of describing new technology as being "useful for humanitarian or search & rescue work", instead of the much more obvious usefulness in military applications.

I've seen this so many times now. Is there a established Internet meme for it yet?

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