WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Army has ordered $18.7 million worth of special heavy parachutes to enable heavy artillery pieces and mortars to be dropped to units in the field from aircraft, the Department of Defense announced.
"Yoland Corporation [based in] Brooklyn, New York, was awarded an $18.7 million… contract for 60mm, 81mm, 120mm, and 155mm main and drogue mortar and artillery parachutes," the announcement said on Thursday.
The contract is to be completed over the next five years by April 20, 2021, the Defense Department added.
The US Army has deployed airborne field artillery units for more than 70 years since they first saw action in the European Theater of Operations in World War II. The units are designed to give enhanced heavy covering defense fire to protect forward-deployed forces.
