re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Airborne drops have been obsolete in high intensity conflict since WWII. They still have their place in SOF operations but the days of mass paratrooper operations into contested LZs is over. I really don’t know why the US army is still so hung up on it.

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We didn't need the A-10 anymore until we did. There are just some jobs too big for the 75th RR but still need airborne forcible entry that would be difficult or impossible via land.

As for modern uses airborne infantry was useful and I dare say critical in '99 in Panama and '03 in Bashur (when the 4th ID got told to pound sand by Turkey). If the Russians weren't a clusterfrick looking for a place to happen the Antonov Airport would have been the most recent example of airborne forcible entry.

I do get the idea that it is unlikely we will ever have to deploy an entire division or more via airborne insertion but you need a lot of airborne soldiers to keep a sizable IRF on standby constantly that can put boots on the ground anywhere in the world in 18 hours whether there is an airport or not. The 82nd and 173rd are both effective no matter how they get to the AO. Paratroopers are like a Swiss army knife and parachutes are like the awl or the tweezers you don't use them often but when you need them it is a Godsend that they are there.