The 6th Airborne Brigade successively receives fresh EPC parachutes, which will become the primary means of landing the full formation. “This is simply a qualitative leap forward,” say the Kraków paratroopers. Modern parachutes reduce the hazard of collision of jumpers, let you to take more equipment during landing, have longer resurs.
The 6th Airborne Brigade presently serves about a 100 parachute instructors, 20 are already trained for EPC.
EPC parachutes (Enhanced Parachute System) are designed for drop of large groups of soldiers with comparatively tiny heights – 80 to 400 m. The skull has an area of 115 m2, by 5 to 32 m2 more than in the existing structures. – This parameter is of course very important, but for the soldier it is equally crucial that the EPC itself does not make progressive velocity as for the older 1 AD95Ms2 design – explains Lieutenant Tomasz Mirowski, a parachute instructor.
The deficiency of progressive velocity means that the skull will not "pull" the jumper forward with respect to the air mass. “It’s a large advantage erstwhile landing larger groups,” says Mirowski. “Everyone is carried by the wind in the same direction, at the same speed, which reduces the hazard of collision of jumpers”, he adds. This harmony is besides possible due to the fact that the EPC – thanks to the control handles – gives the soldier the chance to turn towards his own axis so as to adjust according to the direction of the wind. “The 180-degree rotation lasts about 9 s and is more convenient than making turns in carrier belts, which we deal with in older designs”, explains another instructor, Lieutenant David Trytek. – Landing another than the front is simply a dangerous maneuver for our joint system, powerfully increases the hazard of injury; in EPC we importantly reduce them – he adds.
More mass, more value
Brigade instructors are eager to show a fresh kind of parachute. At its lower edge, you can see an anti-inversion grid that prevents ropes from being thrown through the skull – a phenomenon known in parachute jargon as a ‘calafiore’. They besides pay attention to another grid – protecting drive slots. “If it were not there, 1 might fall into the mediate of another’s bowl,” says Lt. Mirowski.
The skull is made of respective types of material. Sectors with low permeability form air pockets stabilizing descent. In turn, the top part is made of material with greater permeability, making the air more likely to escape the top, which besides stabilizes the flight. “As the most exposed to contact in the phase of leaving the aircraft, this passage is further reinforced”, says our interviewer.
The EPC harness was designed taking into account differences in the construction of soldiers. The adjustment system, marked with letters and digits, allows to match the set to a individual about 165 to over 195 cm tall. – small boys do not service the brigade; many are solid-sized peasants – Lt. Mirowski smiles erstwhile we ask him about the most popular setting of harnesses. In this context, another parameter – burden capacity – is besides crucial in the EPC higher thanks to the larger surface of the bowl. – He weighs his jumper, usually it is not 60 or 70 kg, but more – the officer reserves. – Add weapons, vest with ballistic discs, helmet, ammunition – and we get quite a few weight. In older parachute types, the combined weight of the jumper and equipment could not exceed 120 kg, in the EPC it is 180 kg. A bigger supply is more safety – he concludes. –We are paratroopers – inserts Lieutenant Trytek. We're going in to fight what we can take with us. These additional tens of kilograms translate into more combat value – he convinces.
The 6th Airborne Brigade presently serves about a 100 parachute instructors, 20 are already trained for EPC.
Interoperability parachute
As the first fresh equipment they received soldiers 6th Airborne Battalion in Gliwice and 16 Airborne Battalion in Krakow. “The EPC parachutes come to us in tranches,” reveals Lt. Magdalena Trzebińska-Gawin, a spokesperson for the brigade. “In line with current transportation assumptions, they will last until 2030 and will be correlated with the withdrawal of older structures after they have exhausted their lifetimes,” he adds. Resurs the fresh parachute is 20 years or 200 jumps. “For comparison, the AD-95 parachutes presently utilized have 150 resurs,” says David Trytek.
The task for the next fewer years is full unification. “Today there are 4 types of parachutes in the brigade,” says Lieutenant Mirowski. We want each battalion to work on 1 kind of equipment. This will facilitate training, control and let soldiers to seamlessly pass between the divisions – he explains. So how many EPCs are gonna need? In 2024, the Armed Forces Agency signed a contract to acquisition 900 parachute kits, Red Berets do not uncover how many they have already received. The BPD has respective 1000 soldiers, which makes it possible to estimation the scale of the project, given the fact that almost everyone jumps in the unit – from logistics to commander.
The 6th Airborne Brigade presently serves about a 100 parachute instructors, 20 are already trained for EPC.
So far, the brigade is learning fresh equipment. “We utilized December for an instructor-methodic course, which, on the 1 hand, summed up the full year and, on the other, introduced a fresh kind of parachute,” says Lt. Trzebińska-Gawin. The 6 BPD presently serves about a 100 parachute instructors, 20 are already trained for EPC. – The remainder will be trained in 2026 – assures our interviewer and adds: – Thank the old parachutes for years of service, but we are waiting for fresh ones.
This “new” will make the landing organization stay what it has been for years – a fast way of moving soldiers to the battlefield, but implemented utilizing modern method solutions. It is besides crucial that EPC parachutes are utilized by armies of another NATO countries: France, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Meanwhile, interoperability is key to the success of the combined allied forces.
