Air Force To Launch Munitions From C-17s.

• Author: Easley, Mikayla
• Position: NEWS BRIEFS

* The Air Force is planning a live-fire demonstration before the end of the year that could transform C-17 and C-130 airlifters into strike aircraft.

During the experiment, called the Rapid Dragon campaign, the rear cargo door of a C-17 will open for a high-altitude air drop of a large roll-on/roll-off pallet loaded with munitions, according to the service's strategic development planning and experimentation office.

Dean Evans, Rapid Dragon program director at the office, described the platform as a standalone palletized weapons system and a smart, reconfigurable modular box able to launch varying numbers and types of munitions.

The office went from a conceptual design to test in just 10 months, he said. The testing is part of a fast-paced, 24-month experimentation budgeted at $23.7 million.

Munitions could include the extended range version of Lockheed Martin's 2,000-pound Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER], which would receive targeting data from a beyond-line-of-sight command-and-control node via an aircraft-agnostic battle management system incorporated into the pallet.

The data is uploaded to the missiles, then cleared for release. The pallet rolls out the back, dropping by parachute at a safe distance from the C-17, stabilizes and then automatically fires up to 32 JASSM-ERs or other munitions at a target hundreds of miles away.

In July, the Air Force successfully simulated the scenario during test flights at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, with a Special Operations Command EC-130SJ and a C-17A from the 418th Flight Test Squadron. Later this year, they will do a live-fire test using JASSM-ERs from an EC-130SJ.

The box can be enlarged or diminished in size, "like stacking Lego blocks," depending on how many weapons are desired and what type of airlift aircraft will drop it, Evans said.

The office and the test community are currendy working on a six-JASSM-ER configuration for the C-130 and a nine-JASSM-ER arrangement for the C-17 with the goal of expanding the number of munitions that can be employed from the modular box.

The campaign chose to test with the JASSM-ER first because of its large size and complexity. "If we can make JASSM work, making anything else work in the future...