Wiktionary
n. A parachute that incorporates a toroidal balloon
Wikipedia
The ballute is either inflated by a gas generator or by air forced into the structure by ram air inlets.
Ballutes have also been proposed in stacked toroidal and tension cone form factors, in addition to the more standard isotensoid ballute.
Usage examples of "ballute".
The Bone's Mk82 AIRs (air-inflatable retarded) were modified for low-altitude delivery with the BSU-49/B Ballute tail unit, which was an air-inflatable mushroom-looking canvas parachute that would slow the bomb down enough to allow the bomber to escape the detonation and blast effects without damaging itself.
Its MEM would descend from orbit and go through reentry, and then, about six miles up and still traveling faster than sound, it would sprout a ballute—a cross between a balloon and a parachute, a huge, inflatable sail that would grab at the thin air.
The MEM was being built in a different, more leisurely manner from previous generations of spacecraft, with the basic research—into biconic shapes, ballutes, plug-nozzle rocket engines—being proved before the first ships were assembled.
At the same time, I launch a spread of radar decoys, missiles which immediately deploy maneuverable ballute targets, each of which, though only a few meters across, displays radar cross-sections similar to my own.