After three months of analysis by the US Army the results are in. STARA Technologies’ miniature guided parachute system took second place at the Precision Airdrop Technology Conference and Demonstration (PATCAD 2005) held at the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona.

“This is a big day for STARA,” said the company’s President Colin McCavitt. “We’re a small company with a new, innovative approach to airdrop. At Yuma we showed we could play with the big boys.”

STARA’s performance was particularly exceptional because the company’s Mosquito guided parachute system was entirely self-financed. The other systems presented at PATCAD 2005, by contrast, were heavily supported by Department of Defense funding. Commented McCavitt, “If we came in second place without a dollar of DOD money behind us, imagine what we’d be able to do with some real support.”

The small size of the STARA Mosquito makes it unique. Most guided parachute systems are designed to drop heavy payloads weighing between 2,000 and 10,000 pounds; STARA’s Mosquito delivers payloads between 5 and 20 pounds and is the only system small enough to deliver payloads dropped from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). “It’s amazing how many applications are out there for ‘mini airdrop,’” said STARA’s Chief Engineer Glen Bailey. “The military has hundreds of miniature sensors they’d like to get into the battlefield and up until now there was no way to deliver them. The Mosquito gives them that capability and the results the Army presented today confirm that we can get the job done.”

Source and more info: Yahoo