Best of the Web Read National Defense Magazine.org for daily updates and news: AFSOC Testing Unconventional Capabilities for Cargo Aircraft.

• Author: Roaten, Meredith

ARLINGTON, Virginia -- Air Force Special Operations Command is experimenting with adding nontraditional capabilities to its fleet of cargo planes to give it more tactical options within its budget constraints, according to its commander.

The command is in the midst of testing an amphibious operations modification for its MC-130, said Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command at an Air and Space Forces Association event. A successful test last December also demonstrated that an AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range could be launched from the back ramp of a C-130.

"It's not actually about the JASSM. It's about the unconventional use of platforms that we have available," he said.

The test last year--a partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory--was just the start of the command's effort to be more flexible with its existing platforms, he said. The program, called Red Dragon, is also exploring how a pallet of missiles could be dropped from the back of a C-17.

"We're actually looking at other types of munitions and capabilities. And so, whether it's an electronic attack capability that we might want to deploy, whether it's long-range, precision fires. I mean, you could kind of use your imagination to figure out the many things that you might do with a large volume carrier like the C-130 or a C-17," he said.

Adapting cargo platforms for new uses is part of AFSOC's strategy to stretch shrinking funding dollars, he said.

"Budgeting for the special operations forces over the last several budget cycles--we have seen a decline in our spending power and not inappropriately so," he said. "That's to be expected."

Adapting cargo planes could...