I just told you the practical purpose, not being ready to wipe things so easily.Falls drop zone is WAY more precise than airborne so it's a lot easier to drop them in behind the lines.
And the squad size isn't the reason for that difference, because the Soviet airborne drop is more precise too. Unless it's been changed since i last tested it
They arnt insta pop and wipe units though. Usf pay because their Thompsons come with a great ability and their LMGs are monsters ONTOP of being able to reinforce on the field although I could get behind a price reduction for both, especially the Thompsons given the Soviet guards ppsh being free. Could you imagine dropping falls on a beacon and constantly reinforcing them in combat? Would be nasty business.
Soviet are emerging from a cloud of smoke so the wipe potential would be enormous if they spawned with weapons.
Falls are the least durable of the airborne but start the best equipped nerfing then on principle to be like the others when they are not like the others hardly seems reasonable.
I don't know why they need to be delayed in power until after the drop. If they are too spooky for you when they drop you could simply increase the time it takes to drop instead of removing a unique and not unbalanced feature "just because" them starting ready to go isn't a balance issue, not like people drop them right on the front anyways...
Also @SCB they actually dropped with a smaller magazine that didn't stick out past the mag well, I think it was 5 or 10 rounds but they did have the gun with them, it was purpose built for that. Not that it matters in the course of balance... Granted if a 4 man squad armed for bear on the front for the cheap cheap cost of one of the most expensive squads in the game OS indeed OP I guess we could try spawning them with half a magazine for shits and see how that plays out. Forcing a reload so you have more time figure out what happened after that plane that dropped them behind the lines means.