Pallet-borne cruise missile drops from the back of a Hercules to hit target

The US air force has for the first time carried out a successful hit on a target with a live cruise missile dropped from the back of a Hercules transport aircraft. The cruise missile left the MC-130J special operations Hercules on a pallet attached to a parachute before being released and nose-diving towards a target vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. Officially known as a palletised munition, codenamed Rapid Dragon, the cruise missile “deployed its wings and tail, achieved aerodynamic control, ignited its engine...and proceeded towards its newly assigned target”. “The cruise missile successfully destroyed its target upon impact”, the air force said in a statement. The use of a transport aircraft to act as a second-string bomber has become a key part of the Pentagon’s war-planning. Turning cargo planes into makeshift “aerial bomb trucks” would add innovative firepower at relatively low cost, compared with the deployment of stealth fighter aircraft and strategic bombers. The original concept was dramatically demonstrated in April, 2017, when a 30ft long Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed “the mother-of-all bombs”, weighing more than ten tons, was pushed out of a C-130 in Afghanistan. It destroyed an Isis complex of tunnels, caves and a camp where militant fighters had gathered. Since then the concept has developed into a more sophisticated programme with the focus on launching cruise missiles from C-130 and C-17 transport aircraft. The Gulf of Mexico test involved a flight crew from the US Air Force Special Operations Command. The missile with a live warhead was not identified. The idea of a roll-on roll-off palletised air-launched weapon system was aimed at increasing significantly the air force’s ability to deploy stand-off missiles during a major-power conflict, although in a war against adversaries such as Russia or China, transport aircraft needed for ferrying troops and supplies would be much in demand. The Rapid Dragon programme began two years ago. Another test with a palletised live cruise missile, this time involving a C-17 Globemaster aircraft, is expected next spring.