"Batman" is back
The Special Parachute Equipment and Logistics Consortium GbR, which is located in Munich, developed and launched a Gryphon tactical parachute-planning special-purpose system for pilot production. Translated from English, this word means either a “griffin”, which in ancient oriental mythology was depicted as a fantastic animal with a lion body, eagle wings and an eagle or a lion's head, or “vulture” - a predatory bird of the family of griffons, which are also characterized that they are able to soar in the sky for a long time, looking for prey.
As is known, the traditional parachute systems and methods of landing an airborne assault have one major drawback - the relatively low secrecy of actions: it is difficult to hide medium and large transport aircraft from the enemy, as well as paratroopers landing almost vertically. However, a number of tasks require just increased secrecy, accuracy and accuracy of paratroopers' actions - these are the so-called reconnaissance and sabotage operations. In this case, the method of dropping from high and very large heights is used, where it is practically impossible to detect either the aircraft itself or the time of the landing of the paratroopers. This method received the designation “High Altitude / High Opening” or abbreviated HAHO, which literally means “dropping from a great height and opening a parachute at high altitude”, or the designation “High Altitude / Low Opening” (or HALO) , that is, "dropping from a great height and opening a parachute with a long time delay."
A further improvement of the parachute systems used for such a method of landing was the Griffon kit, which can significantly improve landing accuracy and increase the planning distance to an almost 4 – 5: 1 ratio (that is, when dropping from 10 km in the absence of a strong wind, the paratrooper in “ Griffin "can overcome the distance on the horizon at least in 40 km).
In addition, for paratroopers using the “Griffin” kit, the rate of descent increases, and the flight is less exposed to air currents at various altitudes. Moreover, due to the greater rate of decline, the time period for using oxygen respiratory systems (devices) and the effect of low temperatures on the body of a military man is reduced. And the opening of the parachute is directly above the target and the small area of the Griffon’s wing significantly reduces the effective reflecting surface of the paratrooper itself.
It should be especially emphasized that the tests carried out by the developers of this kit make it possible to say: a paratrooper equipped in the Gryphon is extremely difficult to detect using radar stations with a different operating range of airborne and ground-based.
To improve the accuracy of landing and the choice of the optimal route planning kit is complemented by a navigation system and stabilization. This will allow the paratroopers with high efficiency to solve tasks in the night and in bad weather conditions, as well as to perform the flight in the mode of following the terrain.
In addition, the "Griffin" provides an optional option for installing a small-sized turbojet engine used in foreign unmanned aerial vehicles. In this case, the horizontal range of the paratrooper equipped with this kit may already reach at least 100 km, and under the most favorable conditions of outliers and meteorological conditions, the front range can reach 200 km.
The following special equipment is part of the “Griffon” basic kit:
- basic design with a wing, a compartment for laying a parachute and a cargo compartment;
- system of automatic flight control (execution of a predetermined flight task);
- A special helmet brand GH-1 for landing from high altitudes;
- breathing apparatus at high altitudes OXYJUMP;
- portable radio communication system with bone-resonator microphone;
- navigation system with GPS receiver, helmet indicator and portable PDA-computer;
- the system of emergency shooting of the wing-glider and the cargo compartment and pulling out of the emergency parachute;
- the main parachute system - the basic version is equipped with a TW9 340 parachute, but at the request of the customer, the Griffin kit can be equipped with another type of parachute system with TW9 340 parachute-like characteristics.
In this photo, there is a compartment for storing a parachute and a cargo compartment for various equipment.
The distinctive feature of the "Griffin" is the use of the technology "stealth" during its design. In addition, under special conditions — for example, if necessary to place non-standard cargo in the cargo compartment — the shape of the nozzle-glider can be changed.
The weight of the empty set of the base model is 15 kg, the weight of the additional target load placed in the cargo compartment is 50 kg, and the maximum “dumped” (or starting) weight with the cargo, paratrooper and parachute of the TW9 340 brand reaches 225 kg. At the same time, the longest flight time when dropping from a maximum altitude of 10 km does not exceed on average 15 minutes.
The maximum possible flight speed of a paratrooper wearing the “Griffin” kit reaches 400 km / h, cruising speed in planning is 150 km / h, and the most optimal planning speed as recommended by the developers is about 200 km / h when dropped from an altitude of 2 km and about 300 km / h with an emission height of 10 km.
A special helmet that is part of the basic model of the “Griffin” kit for dropping from high altitudes of the GH-1 brand is standard equipment when carrying out dropping of the HAHO or HALO type. The helmet is specially designed for such specific tasks and has a modular design, it can be used with an oxygen breathing mask, equipped with a navigation module with a helmet and a night vision goggles. At the request of the customer and the need to use non-standard equipment, the design (shape) of the helmet can be slightly changed. Helmet material - Kevlar. The mask is made of high strength and resistant to strong shock material. The helmet is attached to a special insulating cape on the neck. There is a specially created model for military personnel who constantly wear glasses.
Special helmet GH-1 for landing from high altitudes
Another important element of the “Griffin” kit is oxygen equipment for breathing at high altitudes OXYJUMP (hereinafter referred to as “oxygen wiper”), which was originally developed by order of special operations forces and airborne troops of Germany. Oxyjump is a part of special kits that will be used by military personnel. It requires that the paratrooper join the oxygen system 30 minutes before the release and can breathe 100% oxygen before the 30 minutes.
This system has a modular design principle, so that its composition may vary depending on the nature of a particular operation. The use of an oxidejamp is possible when landing from a height of up to 10 km, and oxygen is in cylinders under the pressure of 200 bar.
The following items are included in the model model of the “oxygenjump” kit:
- standard helmet;
- oxygen mask for breathing in various sizes;
- oxygen regulator with an automatic ACOV directional control valve and an oxygen supply dilution valve;
- the main oxygen cylinder with a capacity of 2 liters with a pressure gauge and pressure reducer - is used for preliminary breathing of a paratrooper (before dropping out), which avoids the use of the oxygen system of the aircraft carrier;
- “spare” oxygen tank with a capacity of 1 liter with pressure gauge and pressure reducer — used by the paratrooper for breathing during the flight (descent) period.
The regulator of oxygen consumption provides the programmed “dilution” of oxygen depending on the height of the dump and flight of the paratrooper, and the automatic ACOV directional control valve allows automatic switching from the main oxygen cylinder to the reserve cylinder without interrupting the supply of military personnel with oxygen. Switching between cylinders occurs when the pressure in the main cylinder falls below the 4 bar or when this cylinder is mechanically disconnected. However, if another primary oxygen cylinder is connected to the system, the ACOV valve automatically switches to oxygen supply from it. The fact that the oxygen supply is switched from one cylinder to another is indicated by the position of a special indicator flag located on the ACOV valve. Usually, the main oxygen cylinder is forcibly disconnected before the paratrooper is dropped.
The “Griffin” kit is quite compact, its overall characteristics are as follows: wingspan is 1,8 meters, length is 1,5 meters, and height is 0,43 meters. This makes it quite easy to transport and store it, using it when necessary, or quickly delivering it to the required departure. To date, however, it has not been reported whether any special service or armed forces of the countries of the world have acquired this kit for practical use. There is also no reliable information about the testing of the “Griffin” or taking it for trial operation to the troops, which means that this development is most likely done on a proactive basis - with the expectation that potential buyers will appropriately appreciate the unique possibilities offers "Griffin", and will soon convert this interest into the necessary contracts. In this connection, a quite reasonable question arises: will the developers and manufacturers of this equipment be able to prevent it from falling into the hands of terrorists and criminals, who will receive additional capabilities with its help?
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