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Iryin Aerospace Inc in partnership with the U.S. Army, Natick Soldier Center (Natick), have begun to explore the applicability of airbag impact attenuation for heavy airdrop delivery. The application of airbags (and other technologies) is being studied under Natick's Rapid Rigging De-rigging Airdrop System (RRDAS) program. The teaming of Irvin and Natick combines the experience of Natick airbag testing in the field of airdrop cargo impact attenuation, and Irvin's experience in airdrop development and impact attenuation for aircraft and spacecraft One of Irvin's unique capabilities is the detailed simulation of airbag impact through explicit Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations.

This paper reviews the latest technological advancements and achievements in large ramair parachute development with a focus on the advantages provided by modular design and large ram-air parachute fault tolerance. The State of the art of autonomously guided large ram-air parafoil technology has been rapidly advanced. With these advancements it is now feasible to recover "high end" cargo such as rocket boosters by a single ram-air parachute rather than a cluster of conventional ballistic parachutes. A systems engineering approach, integrating robustly designed airborne guidance hardware, flight software, and ram air parachute technology combined with a robust flight test program has resulted in the development of a precision guided ram-air parachute delivery system that is capable of delivering large payloads precisely, softly and safely.

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