What probably is the best aircraft ever

[Vagrant0]

Depending on how the suspension system worked it could probably be recovered and reused once an area is secured, replacing a few damaged tiles or plates.

 

It would be more effective than paratroopers since you don't have dozens of parachutes in the sky gently floating to the ground telling you exactly where, and how many are landing and giving you plenty of time to shoot at them as they float down slow enough that the soldier doesn't end up breaking their legs upon landing. Paratroopers themselves are really only effective when you have several hundred soldiers to send and only need about 1/4 of them to actually land and be able to fight. Each paratrooper is also much more limited in what they can carry so that they aren't breaking their legs on landing. As the modern military invests thousands of dollars in training and equipment for their soldiers, it's no wonder why it wouldn't be too great of an option.

 

A drop pod however would allow for quick descent and potentially be a smaller visual silhouette than even 1 soldier with parachute. If dropped at night, a darkened outer shell would go unnoticed aside from the aircraft that dropped it until it landed. Given that it would initially have the inertia of the plane affecting it, even if you saw it come out the back you would be miles from the intended location. As size and distance are hard to judge on a fast moving object in the air, it would be hard to know if it was just a bomb being dropped or something else.

 

The period of usage would probably have to be some point after air-superiority was established, at which point most groundbased AA installations would have been bombed and a couple aircraft flying overhead would, in itself be an intimidating presence.

[Syco21]

The suggestion was for drop pods that held 10 to 20 soldiers.

 

They wouldn't work for covert operations, but covert insertions? Maybe. Imagine, though, you are at some military base, you are sound asleep when suddenly you are jolted out of bed by loud booms and the ground shaking. Being in the military, you probably have a damn good idea of what explosions. These booms definitely do not sound like explosions, at least ones you have heard. Maybe something fell from space? But then, why are there more than one? It sounds as though it's raining out there. What the heil is going on? Now sirens are blaring throughout your compound. You grab your weapon and run outside. You hear the distinct sound of small arms fire. Your base is under attack.

 

Would be pretty interesting. You would be able to pull off a covert op like that, but can you imagine the confusion and chaos that would ensure even of only lasting a few seconds? It would be enough to allow your team to gain the upper hand.

 

About 15 years ago, I was living in Georgetown and some space debris landed about 4-5 miles from my house. It was loud and shook pictures off the walls. It didn't sound like an explosion and didn't think much of it. Then sometime shortly thereafter, we headed into town and saw what it was that made such racket. It landed in some old dude's front yard along the highway. Was crazy.