British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI) marked a pretty significant milestone last week with the successful completion of the largest container air drop from a single aircraft in Falklands history.
Operating from Mount Pleasant Complex, an RAF A400M Atlas from 1312 Flight—part of 905 Expeditionary Air Wing—executed a major Container Delivery System (CDS) drop near Goose Green.
The aircraft released 24 pallets, each weighing around 900kg, from an altitude of 3,000 feet. The mission was supported by 47 Air Dispatch, No. 30 Squadron, and No. 70 Squadron from RAF Brize Norton.
“This air drop was the culmination of a lot of hard work by personnel in the UK and here in the Falkland Islands, and it sets the benchmark for opportunities in the future,” said Group Captain Adele Stratton, Deputy Commander of BFSAI. “We have received fantastic support from the whole local community, but especially the Goose Green community and Royal Falkland Island Police without whom it would not have been possible.”
The complex air drop also provided an opportunity for joint training with 2nd Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles (2RGR). The Gurkhas assisted the 47AD Air Controller with in-mission communications, recovered the cargo, and secured the drop zone—working in close coordination with BFSAI logistics and MT personnel.
RAF officials noted that the mission served as a vital proof of concept for conducting large-scale aerial deliveries, with potential implications for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations in remote or austere environments. The drop, conducted at an altitude rarely achievable in the UK, showcased the RAF’s ability to project force and sustain operations in some of the most remote British territories.
The A-400 is obviously a huge step up in the ability for the RAF in aerial delivery, but I have to question whether we have sufficient paratroop capability for any future need, it’s no good dropping palletised or containerised equipment if we don’t have the capability to drop troops to use the equipment in the first place, and if troops were being landed in advance then the question is why they would need airdrops apart from resupply, the capability to drop paratroopers and their equipment etc needs to be addressed urgently, as does the number of military personnel we have fullstop, it is absolutely ridiculous to have all the big shiny toys to play with if we don’t have the personnel to play with them, but once again the government, knowing how badly we are undermanned, have not addressed the root cause of the military undermanning and that is pay and conditions of service for ALL OF THE MILITARY.
When i first read the headline i thought maybe the A400 had flown from Ascension Islands to the falklands which would be mightily impressive. From what I understand the A400 took off from Falklands and dropped the kit off just down the road . I am sure that’s impressive but not sure what the context or implications are of this story . Out of curiosity I researched about the RAF during the Falklands war who set up an amazing logistics link with Hercules to get supplies to the Falklands and Navy fleet , even men parachuting into the sea . And amazing achievement of professionalism and clever people doing number crunching . Those RAF A levels and Degrees put to good use .
It’s the Crabs trying to get a headline, they’ve just slid Falklands over Salisbury Plain.
The major headache will have been the shortage of good hotels surely?
A benchmark in what.?
Means absolutely nothing to our ability to hold on, if attacked we lose them and cannot take them back.
We used to wargame it out of boredom down there and we always beat ourselves.
Impressive how an aircraft that can carry a maximum of nine pallets was able to drop 24…
Great news.