Indeed. Separate weapons drops was one of the things which cost the German parachute regiment so heavily at Crete.
Ed
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We, in the Commonwealth Parachute Regiments do not despatch weaponry separately.
As Jim stated, your container is strapped to your legs until clear of the aircraft, and once your canopy is up and you have kicked out of twists, you drop your container on a 15 foot rope lanyard which can then hit the ground first and leave you free to "rock and roll".
The weapons sleeve having been prepared as per SOP's before hand is one simple tug and the weapon is ready to use.
Both the German Fallschirmjäger and the UK Parachute Battalions dropped weaponry separately during the war.....................lessons were soon learnt as specialist weaponry never fell into the right hands, and the reason why weapons are now tied to you!!