Around a dozen Polish soldiers descended on a village in the country's south during a botched airborne exercise on Monday, just days after NATO praised its paratroopers as a “strategic asset.”
The 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment based in Hrubieszow was conducting a “scheduled” parachute training exercise when a sudden change in wind speed and direction forced them off course, according to local media reports. As a result, at least 12 personnel landed several hundred meters from their intended target, causing damage to crops and private property in the village of Chechlo, in the province of Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
A video of the incident has surfaced on social media, showing the paratroopers attempting to navigate strong winds, but landing in various locations across the village.
One soldier fell onto a power line, while another damaged the roof of a residential building. Several others reportedly landed on crops and backyards. No serious injuries were reported except for one soldier who suffered a knee injury and was taken to a medical facility.
Polish officials insisted that “nothing terrible happened,” claiming the incident was isolated and that all necessary measures would be taken to prevent such occurrences in the future, according to local media. The Air Accidents Investigation Commission and internal military services have launched a probe into the incident.
It is unclear if the exercise in Poland was part of the ongoing US-led Swift Response. Last week, NATO published a video touting the drill as “the largest airborne operation since the Second World War,” in which multiple member states practiced their “ability to insert hundreds of soldiers behind enemy lines.”
“Airborne operations require precise timing and consummate skill from pilots and paratroopers alike. Because of the inherent difficulty of these missions, frequent practice is required to maintain skills,” NATO stated in a press release.