laststandonzombieisland

Following up on the recent mention of the anniversary of Just Cause here on the blog, I would be remiss to point out something super interesting in that 1989 intervention.

It was the only instance of the M-551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle (AR/AAV) being used exactly as it was designed: as an airdropped light tank.

Crewed by the 3rd Battalion of the 73rd Armor Regiment, 82nd Airborne, the 10 M-551A1s that were hurled to the earth from speeding C-141 Starlifters on 20 December 1989, were the only air drop into combat of the vehicle.

One was damaged and another destroyed when their chutes failed to deploy properly (an 80 percent success rate!), but the use in Panama of the eight functional survivors was “considered highly successful.”

The Sheridan went on to see combat once again in Desert Storm (being the first American Army armor on the ground) and run around the Mojave with the NTC for years, but other than Panama, its claim to fame was in Vietnam.

Albeit without airdrops.