Foreign Legion Parachutes into Mali

French paratroopers of 2e REP (2nd Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment) were parachuted on Timbuktu, article from Army Recognition.

On Monday morning, 28 January 2013, French Foreign Legionaires of the 2e REP were parachuted into North Central Mali to re-capture Timbuktu from Islamist radicals who are threatening to turn Mali into a radical Islamist nation.



Two C-130 Hercules and three C-160 Transvall military transport planes were used to drop the paratroops just north of Timbuktu to block acces to and escape from this city.

The picture above is from a drone capturing the jump.

This combat jump was in coordinatation with a 600 man French column moving from the city of Niono to engage Islamist rebels.

The French also conducted an air assault using a Company from the 1e RCP (First Parachute CHasseur Regiment) into the city of Gao.  Now, who was saying Paratroopers are obsolete?