An Australian soldier killed in a parachuting training accident at Jervis Bay Airfield in NSW has been named.

An Australian special forces soldier has been killed in a “mid-air collision” during a parachute training exercise at a Defence Force base in coastal NSW.

Warrant Officer Lachlan Muddle, 50, was killed on Monday night when he collided mid-air with a parachute instructor as his paratrooper regiment was involved in routine training at the Jervis Bay Airfield.

Warrant Officer Lachlan Muddle died after he collided mid-air with another paratrooper during a parachuting exercise. Picture: Supplied
Addressing media on Tuesday, Major General Garth Gould said the men “collided several hundred feet above the ground as they were manoeuvring towards the drop zone”.

“After the collision, both soldiers fell from height. One soldier, a sergeant from the Australian Defence Force parachute school, survived the fall with minor injuries. A second soldier, Warrant Officer Lachlan Muddle, received fatal injuries as a result of the fall,” General Gould said.

“Warrant Officer Muddle was provided immediate first aid on the scene by Australian Defence Force medics who were later joined by NSW Ambulance who arrived on the scene very quickly.

The ADF has halted all parachute jumps until further notice. Picture: supplied
“Both paratroopers were highly skilled. Between the two of them, they had several thousand jumps to their credit.”

When asked by reporters if he believed the ADF parachute training safety protocols were up to scratch, General Gould said he had “a high degree of confidence”.

“I do believe they are up to scratch and fit for purpose. I’ve got a high degree in confidence in our training system,” he said.

“You’re right to bring up the tragic accident that involved Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon about two years ago. That matter involved a single paratrooper. It was investigated through a number of lines of inquiry. Some of those inquiries have concluded and provided recommendations, others are close to concluding.

The incident comes two years after the death of Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon in a similar incident. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper
“I am very confident in the safety system as a whole.”

General Gould also added that all parachute exercises across the Defence Force had been halted pending an internal investigation into Warrant Officer Muddle’s death.

Warrant Officer Muddle joined the Army in 1994, going on to serve in the elite Special Air Service Regiment in 2007.

His death comes more than two years after former federal defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon’s son Jack was killed in a parachute incident at the Richmond RAAF base in Sydney’s northwest.

Originally published as Australian soldier killed after two parachutes collide mid-air in training incident at Jervis Bay