Rapid Dragon

[ORAC]

https://twitter.com/andynetherwood/status/1440941215172763650?s=21

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42469/our-best-look-yet-at-rapid-dragon-cargo-plane-launched-stealth-cruise-missiles-in-action

Our Best Look Yet At 'Rapid Dragon' Cargo Plane-Launched Stealth Cruise Missiles In Action

https://youtu.be/2d-lQ5dUh8c

https://youtu.be/dvCs1zzb6mk

[MPN11]

Back in the Dark Ages, a former OC 5 Sqn and I discussed his concept for a similar arrangement for AAMs out if the back of a C-130. His idea was to fill the North Sea skies with missiles, instead of heading back to Binbrook after you’d used your 2 and run short of fuel.

I hope Strets is still around to read about this.

[BEagle]

And from 18 years ago: https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/89696-long-range-non-penetrator-lrnp.html

[NutLoose]

Or the stripped down P-8

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40859/the-case-for-stripping-the-p-8-poseidon-down-into-an-rb-8-multi-role-arsenal-ship

[DirtyProp]

I was expecting a discussion about this:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/450x361/450px_dragon_rapide_g_aeml_flying_arp_3c5295ddcde1be994f9dd7 ee1288b244943dc570.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Dragon_Rapide
I'm bitterly disappointed.

[NutLoose]

Just to please you dirtyprop, here is one I took earlier, or is that two.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51230412932_bc575f1d73_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2m44fVA)

now back on topic…

[ORAC]

Quick way for the RAF to make up for losing so many strike interdiction squadrons - wonder how many the A-400M could carry as well as the C-17….

[PaulH1]

Ex 5 Sqn myself and also in Jersey!

[ORAC]

MPN11, you talking about Mad Dog?

[MPN11]

MPN11, you talking about Mad Dog?
That may well have been one of his names, but can't confirm - although it rings a bell. We only crossed paths in the MoD environment, where things were calmer! He was OC 5 in the 1982 timeframe.

[finestkind]

Interesting. Are we coming around to the Dale Brown idea.

[NutLoose]

Boeing looked at the 747 carrying up to 72 air launched cruise missiles.. info

https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/americas-plan-to-build-747-arsenal-ships-packed-with-cruise-missiles/

[rattman]

Quick way for the RAF to make up for losing so many strike interdiction squadrons - wonder how many the A-400M could carry as well as the C-17….

C-17 I think I read was 9 pallets of 9

[henra]

C-17 I think I read was 9 pallets of 9
Wooohhoo, that would be quite some serious punch....
That said, looking at the weight of the JASSM plus some racks this seems a bit too much from my perspective. Also cg chantge while dropping would be interesting how they cope with it.
Also length wise 9 would be probably a bit too much. I would guess 7 -8 racks should be feasible though, cg change notwihstanding.

[Just a spotter]

Then, there was the proof of concept of dropping an ICBM out the back of a C-5 for air mobile launch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96A0wb1Ov9k

One possible development of the Rapid Dragon model could be dropping large concentrations of BVR air to air missles, with the racks falling slowly (or suspended on balloons) and data linked to other aircraft that designate the targets.

JAS

[ORAC]

Can’t see that. They never be optimally located for a target and would lose the kinetic advantage provided by a high and fast launch aircraft.

There are proposals of course for AAM carrying drones deployed up threat of the fighter screen with the fighters providing target allocation and initial guidance to place the drone in the correct launch position. Which means the fighter doesn’t have to carry all the missiles, can extend its endurance, and can be rearmed with the launch of reinforcement drones. Which is exactly what Longshot is designed for…

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a35460914/darpa-fighter-drone-air-to-air-missiles-project-longshot/

[ORAC]

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43550/special-operations-c-130-hits-target-with-a-rapid-dragon-pallet-dropped-cruise-missile

Special Operations C-130 Hits Target With A 'Rapid Dragon' Pallet-Dropped Cruise Missile

[Mark Cassidy]

Ladies and Gents,

I have been blown away by the ingenuity thats gone into this program, its becoming very much like something from the pages of Dale Brown.

But an observation if I may, the concept is that you throw out a pallet of 6 jassams they drop out and fly off to their aim points, one wee question, what happens if you don't require all 6 weapons, or is this purely intended for pre-planned saturation attacks against a peer enemy?

Regards

Mark

[chevvron]

I was expecting a discussion about this:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/450x361/450px_dragon_rapide_g_aeml_flying_arp_3c5295ddcde1be994f9dd7 ee1288b244943dc570.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Dragon_Rapide
I'm bitterly disappointed.
But that's a Dragon Rapide not a Dragon like the one I flew in as G-ADDI.

[brokenlink]

So if the C-17 will be dispensing munitions, does that make it a B-17 then?
Just asking for a friend :)

BL

​​​​​​​
https://twitter.com/andynetherwood/status/1440941215172763650?s=21


https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42469/our-best-look-yet-at-rapid-dragon-cargo-plane-launched-stealth-cruise-missiles-in-action

Our Best Look Yet At 'Rapid Dragon' Cargo Plane-Launched Stealth Cruise Missiles In Action

https://youtu.be/2d-lQ5dUh8c

https://youtu.be/dvCs1zzb6mk

[morton]

So if the C-17 will be dispensing munitions, does that make it a B-17 then?
Only in the same way that the F117 ( a Bomber) was designated a Fighter.
Yes but no.

[ORAC]

No more than you’d redesignate the C-130 the B-130….


https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/9274/us-drops-largest-non-nuclear-bomb-on-isis-in-afghanistan

[typerated]

No more than you’d redesignate the C-130 the B-130….




Surely a BC-130J?

or in RAF service a Hercules BC.Mk5 ?

On second thoughts a Hercules CB.Mk5 !

[ORAC]

Hmmm. I wonder if UKR might acquire a few C-130 in the near future…

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2022/11/10/watch-this-us-air-force-cargo-plane-launch-a-cruise-missile-in-norway/

Watch this US Air Force cargo plane launch a cruise missile in Norway

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has for the first time in an overseas test used its Rapid Dragon system (https://www.defensenews.com/air/2022/11/07/us-air-force-seeks-the-aircraft-equivalent-of-a-swiss-army-knife/), in which cruise missiles on pallets are launched from the back of a mobility aircraft.

An MC-130J Commando II from the 352nd Special Operations Wing launched a Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range cruise missile using the system nicknamed “bomb bay in a box” (https://www.defensenews.com/training-sim/2021/12/17/us-air-force-blows-up-a-target-with-a-cruise-missile-from-a-cargo-plane/) in a range over the Norwegian Sea on Wednesday, the Air Force Research Laboratory said.

Dean Evans, the program manager for Rapid Dragon (https://www.defensenews.com/air/2021/11/17/got-cruise-missile-armed-cargo-planes-the-us-air-force-is-nearly-there/), said the successful test shows how quickly the program is progressing, noting that it moved from a concept on paper to a live-fire test in two years.

“Now, less than three years from the program’s inception, Rapid Dragon is being used by [U.S. Special Operations Command Europe] in the Arctic Circle,” Evans said in a release. “This is a testament to the team’s focus on rapid fielding to meet warfighter needs.”

The command posted a video online Wednesday that shows the test process at Norway’s Andøya Space Defense Range from multiple perspectives. A parachute attached to the Rapid Dragon deployment box is tossed from the open cargo bay of the MC-130, which then unfurls and swiftly pulls the pallet out of the aircraft.

The hurtling box sheds its deployment parachute and deploys a quartet of other parachutes that steady it. When the deployment box is vertical, it releases a JASSM-ER missile downward. Within seconds, the missile’s wings and tail snap open, and its engine engages, leaving a trail of exhaust in its wake.

This was the first live-fire Rapid Dragon test since the Air Force destroyed a target in the Gulf of Mexico in December 2021, and the first time the concept was used outside of the continental United States, the Air Force Research Lab said.

A longer video of the test posted by the Pentagon showed the cruise missile traveling over the sea for about 2 minutes before detonating. When asked if a target was destroyed, the lab did not respond directly, but said that all objectives were met.

Additional photographs posted by the Air Force showed American and Polish airmen training to load palletized munitions onto a Polish C-130. That training took place Tuesday in Powidz, Poland.….

https://twitter.com/us_soceur/status/1590382685410582528?s=61&t=Z5iUWnjNN-sl30sUdneVvQ

[dead_pan]

Do the Ukes currently possess an airdropping capability from their transport fleet? An124s maybe?