Care Package

 is a multiplayer killstreak reward in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. After achieving a killstreak of 4, or 3 with the Hardline perk, the player will be given a special smoke grenade that emits red smoke. A helicopter drops a large crate at the point designated by the smoke. This crate can contain a full ammo restock, or any killstreak except Emergency Airdrop, Tactical Nuke, or another Care Package. This helicopter can be shot down before dropping the care package.

Advantages and Disadvantages
Care Packages can be quite advantageous in that they have a chance of giving the player a killstreak reward that otherwise would take more kills to earn. However, they will oftentimes contain lower killstreak rewards or ammo resupplies, making the care package a gamble.

However, any player, including enemies, can take the care package. The player that calls the care package in can capture it almost instantaneously, but any other player will take five seconds to pick it up. If an enemy captures a powerful killstreak reward, the results can be disastrous.

The care package itself can also be deadly. If it lands on top of any player or rolls onto them after touching down, they will be killed.

Caution must be exercised when throwing the smoke grenade to ensure that the care package lands in a place where it is both reachable and safe to pick up.

Care Packages appear on the radar. Both friendly and enemy care package smoke is red.

Content Probabilities
The probability of any given item is as follows (according to PC code): There is no chance of getting a Tactical Nuke, Care Package or Emergency Airdrop in a care package.
 * 14.78% - UAV
 * 14.78% - Ammo
 * 13.04% - Counter-UAV
 * 10.43% - Sentry Gun
 * 10.43% - Predator Missile
 * 9.57% - Precision Airstrike
 * 6.09% - Harrier Airstrike
 * 6.09% - Attack Helicopter
 * 4.35% - Pave Low
 * 4.35% - Stealth Bomber
 * 2.61% - Chopper Gunner
 * 2.61% - AC-130
 * 0.087% - EMP

Tips

 * Be careful where you place the marker, if its in the open, you can be easily be killed and have it stolen, if it is in cover, it may be out of reach of the attackers.
 * If it is ammo, which you don't currently have a problem with, leave the package for a teammate to take. Alternatively, you could set a decent trap for the enemy.
 * Watch your surroundings, a sneaky player might sneak up on you and kill you, then take the package for themselves.
 * Consider leaving a crate with UAV or ammo alone and ambush opponents that try to get it. Claymores are really effective since the enemy is probably focused on the crate.
 * When calling in a package, remember to make sure you have a clear space zone of about 20 feet because care packages tend to roll a lot; don't put the marker outside the map or underneath obstacles such as the bridge in underpass.
 * Using a Care Package as bait is a nice way to rack up kills and improve your sniper skills. Just throw the marker in an open spot and see if the enemy takes the bait. Be warned there is some risk to this if the reward is really worth stealing. This works well on Afgan, Underpass, and Wasteland maps.
 * Care Packages can smash through glass too. This is very useful in maps like Terminal or Highrise, most of the inside in Terminal has a glass roof and in Highrise the building with the office computers has a glass skylight.
 * ALWAYS look up before you throw the care package to make sure there is nothing above you that the package will get caught on.
 * If you get a UAV or counter UAV, leave it for your team as you will get more points and still get the benefits.
 * Make sure you're not in a corner when waiting for the care package. Players have been known to corner their own teamates so they couldn't take it and take their care packages for themselves, which were by that time dropped and lie close by.

Trivia

 * Any kills scored though the reward gained from a Care Package will not count towards earning additional killstreaks. However the Care package can add kills towards killstreaks if it crushes a hostile player by landing on him.
 * Though a difficult feat due to the small amount of time it spends on the map, the care package delivery helicopter can be shot down. However, no points are awarded to the player that manages to do so, but will count toward challenges that involve destroying killstreaks (I.E. Cold Blooded Pro). Care package delivery helicopters can also be shot down before they drop their load. This feat is most easily pulled off if the player positions himself on a high area with a full 360 degree, unobstructed view of the skies. The player will need to pay close attention to his map and respond quickly to the incoming delivery helicopter. If lucky, the delivery helicopter will take a longer route than normal and cross over more of the map than necessary before dropping off its care package. This give's the player an opportunity to shoot it down. When shot down with the care package still attached, the care package detaches from the helicopter and falls down. No points are awarded for this either. Having to concentrate on this one task ruins your game however, and since there are no awards it is usually never attempted by anyone.
 * Like Tactical Insertion, the player can choose to forgo using the package, and instead use it as bait for ambushing an unsuspecting enemy. However, the player may be killed by the intended victim(s), who may then take the package for themselves, or even teammates might steal the package.
 * The radius from which players can open a care package actually forms a sphere - allowing some lucky players to capture a care package from underneath it. This can commonly be done in maps like Favela, where Care Packages can land on roofs or other structures.
 * It is generally inadvisable to use the Care Package killstreak on Hardcore game types, as particularly malicious teammates will simply kill you and steal the package (Unless playing on one of the "Ricochet" game types). This is even more applicable towards Emergency Airdrops for the same reason.
 * It is generally frowned upon attempting to take a teammates care package unless they are killed before capturing it.
 * There is a nice tactic for safely obtaining the Care Package. When you throw a marker, deploy your Tactical Insertion near it. Thus, if you are killed by the enemy, you will respawn near the Package, with high chances of killing a foe and obtaining ammo or killstreak.
 * There is a Challenge to be completed when later unlocked under Humiliation to drop a care package on a hostile and winning the match as per last kill.
 * If one knifes an opponent while the care package canister is in hand, the knife will still knife, but make a different noise, noticeably softer than the normal knife sound. It sounds very much like the melee sound from Call of Duty: 2.
 * On gametypes that have rounds, like Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy and Demolition remember to watch the timer to see if there is enough time for you to retrieve your care package. If you do not have enough time save it till the next round.
 * Before 1.0.177 patch while holding the care package marker, players could run at a very high speed and also knife faster than usual. PC versions received an update which fixed the issue.This glitch is yet to be patched on consoles, however.