yesterday we had a vivid discussion if the US army can airdrop battle tanks on kaiserslautern, using the aircraft that fly over kaiserslautern during landing approach to Ramstein.

My argument was that a usual battle tank (like the Leopard II used in many european armies, weights about 62 tons) could not be dropped. A kindergarden mathematical approach based on a 80kg person with a 24 sqm paraglider brought us to a 160x160m parachute for a 70 ton tank.


but surely, tanks can fly:

http://www.waffenhq.de/panzer/m551sheridan.html

the M511 sheridan can be airdropped, but it is a very light battle tank with 16 tons weight. It is not armored and above article says that this was a problem.

so yes, humans can do it and if somebody airdrops a tank, it would be a frightening thing, even if its not a leopard 2.