the u.s air force has validated the key concept that will drastically boost the
service's firepower in wartime rapid dragon an approach named after an 11th century
chinese weapon system involves loading cruise missiles on pallets the system could eventually
lead to transport planes launching bigger flying cargos including large attack drones
the air force tested the rapid dragon concept earlier this month at eglin air force base in
the western florida panhandle the test involved loading a cruise missile flight test vehicle
and several dummy missiles aboard a pallet rigged with a parachute air dropping palletized cargos
is not new to the air force which literally rolls them out the back of the plane via the cargo ramp
once the pallet exits the plane a parachute deploys and the pallet floats gently to earth
rapid dragon is different from the standard pallet drop
as the pallet descends it orients its missile cargo nose down
the missiles fall out of their containers pointing straight down the descent allows
the missile's turbine engines to spin up the wings to deploy and the missile to proceed to the target
rapid dragon is designed to fit in a six-pack pallet for smaller c-130j super hercules transport
planes and a nine pack for larger longer-range c-17 globemaster 3s the video shows c-130s
dropping two pallets each and c-17s dropping three pallets each though with a cargo section length
of 88 feet each moose is theoretically capable of dropping up to five pallets or four to five
missiles in addition to a parachute each pallet is equipped with a control module that feeds target
data to the missiles air crews will be able to load target data into planes mid-flight allowing
for changes in plans as the battle rages on if the plane's targets are destroyed during the mission
air force battle commanders could reroute the missiles to new targets the main missile
envision for rapid dragon is the agm-158 joint air to surface standoff munition extended range
or jasm er jazmir is a stealthy land attack cruise missile capable of penetrating defended airspace
flying around enemy defenses to strike targets with a 000 pound wdu-42b penetrating warhead
the missile has a range of 621 miles on x-day 20 c-17 transports are loaded with rapid dragon
pallets the first attack weight consists of 20 b1 and b2 bombers loaded with 24 and 20 jasmbr each
they strike chinese air defense systems on taiwan and the mainland with a total of 560 missiles
the c-17s loaded with 900 jasm er constitute the second wave and hit port facilities airfields and
other targets annihilating the chinese military's ability to shuttle troops to the besieged island
without supplies and reinforcements chinese paratroopers and marines
are eventually outnumbered in surrender rapid dragon turns air force transports into bombers
but the transformation isn't perfect transport planes are not stealthy and are vulnerable to
surface-to-air missiles and enemy fighters jasm er long range will allow the transports
to launch their missiles at a considerable distance from enemy defenses helping ensure
the plane's survival one question the rapid dragon test raises does the air force need to stop there
the service envisions its future fighter jets escorted by smaller fighter-like robotic wingmen
a c-17 could fly just behind the front lines stacked with robo-wingmen loaded on pallets
if friendly f-35 fighter jets need some quick backup the transport could unload the wingmen
which would join up with the man fighters if that sounds far-fetched recall the time a c5 transport
unloaded a 65 thousand pound 53-foot long intercontinental ballistic missile