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Rapid Dragon (missile system)

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For the Chinese crossbow cart, see Rapid Dragon (siege weapon).
Rapid Dragon missile deployment system
A Rapid Dragon module being loaded on a C-130 for airdrop.
TypePalletized airdrop standoff missile
launch system
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In service2021 (JASSM-ER successful test)
Used byUnited States Air Force
Production history
DesignerUS Air Force Research Lab SDPE group
Air Force Futures
Designed2020
ManufacturerLockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
Systima Technologies
Safran Electronics & Defense[1]
Produced2022 (low production)
VariantsC-130:- 6 barrel module (max 2)
C-17: 9 barrel module (max 5)[2]
Specifications
Length17 ft (520 cm) (approx.)
Width8.4 ft (260 cm) for 6 and 9 barrel configurations
Crew4 (Airdrop cargo crew)
Barrels4 to 9+ (configurable to cargo deck size)
Effective firing rangeJASSM-ER: > 925 km (575 mi)
JASSM-XR: > 1,900 km (1,200 mi)
LRASM (naval targets): > 800 km (500 mi)+
JDAM-ER: > 80 km (50 mi)
Feed systemvertical drop
Main
armament
AGM-158 variants (anti surface & anti naval)
Payload capacity4,000 kg (8,800 lb) to 9,900 kg (21,800 lb)
Launch
platform
Pallet-airdrop capable aircraft:
  C-130, C-17 (confirmed compatibility)

Rapid Dragon is a palletized weapons module which is airdropped from cargo planes and deploys flying munitions, typically cruise missiles. Developed by the United States Air Force and Lockheed, the airdrop rigged pallets, called "deployment boxes" provide a low cost method allowing unmodified C-130 or C-17 cargo plane to be temporarily repurposed as a stand-off bomber able to mass launch any variant of long or short range AGM-158 JASSM cruise missiles against land or naval targets.[1] The size of the deployment boxes is configurable to fit mission and dropship dimensions supporting launch from four to 45 AGM-158 JASSM-ER cruise missiles[3] to strike targets at a range of 925 km (575 mi), expanding to 1,900 km (1,200 mi) when large numbers of JASSM-XR become available in 2024. The system has been successfully used with C-130 and C-17 cargo planes to strike both land and sea targets with armed and test version JASSM-ERs. Future development will generalize the system beyond AGM-158 family missiles to include JDAM bombs, sea mines, drones and other missile systems as well as supporting other cargo and non cargo aircraft.[2] The current version uses unmodified cargo aircraft, and deployment requires no additional crew skills beyond those for airdrops of supplies or vehicles. The system can be thought of as a smart bomb bay in a box and includes an interface allowing targeting information to be fed to the munitions from a distant fire control center.

Overview

The project name is derived from a tenth century Chinese mass fire weapon known as the Ji Long Che which could simultaneously launch large numbers of long range crossbow missiles from a safe distance.[1] Similarly, the present day Rapid Dragon provides the tactical advantage of saturating a target's defenses from standoff weapon distances well outside the threat zone near the target. Operationally, it is a force multiplier and can be rapid fielded, leveraging existing fleets of airlift assets offering the option of significant surges in mass attack missions. Strategically, it allows the United States to rapidly provide strategic strike capability to any of its foreign partner possessing the commonplace capacity to air drop supplies from cargo planes.[2] It also increases the amount of places a cruise missile-carrying aircraft can deploy from and complicates an adversary's attempts to destroy their airbases. While a B-52 Stratofortress requires a 10,000 ft (3,000 m) concrete runway to take off and land, a C-130 can operate from 3,000 ft (910 m) stretches of less developed surfaces.[4]

Rapid Dragon mission stages

Developed from 2020 to 2021 by a team of US Air Force development groups and industry partners, Rapid Dragon has all capabilities self contained on its drop pallet, allowing a standard military cargo plane to be used at any time as a stand-off strategic bomber. For example, using two Rapid Dragon pallets, a C-130 could launch 12 JASSM cruise missiles from a safe distance of 1000 or 1900 kilometers from target. The larger C-17 could accommodate 5 Rapid Dragon pallets each carrying 9 missiles for a mission releasing 45 missiles with 500kg warheads. In a test over the Gulf of Mexico on December 16, 2021, an armed Rapid Dragon received target data from a distant command and control node while in flight, used the data to target its armed JASSM, was airdropped and successfully deployed its payloads, the live round of which destroyed its naval target. The cargo plane- an MC-130J was flown by an Air Force Special Operations Command operational flight crew and carried a 4 pack version of the Rapid Dragon modular missile cassette. The airdrop crew treated the load as a standard supply drop with the pallet's Rapid Dragon's control unit autonomously receiving command and control data which it used to program the JASSM's path and target. The other 3 bays of the released 4 pack palette had ballast rounds with the same shape and weight in order to test the system's method of preventing missile releases from conflicting with each other.[1] To maintain consistent stability during drops, these non munition ballast rounds will continue to be used for missions requiring fewer missiles than the module's full capacity.

Mass launch of a swarm of miniature decoys to accompany a Rapid Dragon airdrop. (Air Force Research Laboratory concept illustration)[5]

Due to the vulnerability of sophisticated air defense systems such as S-300 and S-400 to mass attacks from low flying cruise missiles, it is thought that Rapid Dragon is well suited for swarm tactics missions to suppress enemy air defenses with large numbers of JASSM-ER optionally accompanied by swarms of miniature spoofing decoy drones released from a second airdrop module. [5][6]

The US Air Force intends to continue live tests with C-17s, AGM-158C Long Range Anti Ship (LRASM) and 1900km range AGM-158D JASSM-XR which became available in low production numbers in 2021.[7] The Air Force's Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (SDPE) group is also researching integration of Boeing's lower cost but shorter range (80 km) JDAM-ER bombs, and is working with Raytheon to support Rapid Dragon launch of ADM-160 MALD decoys.[8]

In November 2022 the first European-theater live fire demonstration of a Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile were performed with a MC-130J at Andøya Space test range in Norway.[9]

Historical Context

  • Cargo aircraft have been used in an offensive role since the Vietnam War when C-130s were used to drop BLU-82 bombs. Despite losses in Vietnam due to ground fire, the technique continued to be used such as in the 1991 Iraq War and in Afghanistan with larger GBU-43/B MOAB bombs.[10] Due to the extended range of its missiles, Rapid Dragon allows use of cargo planes as arsenal ships facing much more heavily contested target airspaces.
  • Using cargo planes to launch missiles has been around since the 1970s. In 1974, the US demonstrated the feasibility of launching an ICBM from practically anywhere when it test fired a 17.4 m (57 ft), 40,000 kg (88,000 lb) LGM-30 Minuteman airdropped from a C-5A Galaxy.
  • In the 1980s, a lower cost alternative to the B-1 bomber known as the Cruise Missile Carrier Aircraft (CMCA) was designed, configuring a Boeing 747-200 cargo airframe as a special purpose mass launcher of from 50 to 100 AGM-86 ALCM missiles. Like the Rapid Dragon, missiles were released rapidly from the rear of the aircraft and were dynamically targeted by an onboard control system.[11] Rapid Dragon uses the stand-off arsenal ship and cost cutting orientation of the CMCA project adapting the concept to a roll on, roll off capability which can be rapidly used with virtually any of the numerous rear ramp airdrop cargo aircraft operated by friends and allies of the US.[7]
  • The concept of loading palletized missiles onto American cargo aircraft was explored by graduate students in preliminary concepts at the Air Force Institute of Technology in 2003 with explored launch systems including cruise missiles deployed from parachuted trays, rotary launchers, and spring-loaded launchers deployed from the aft of the aircraft.[12] Later, with the emergence of near-peer adversaries exploring Anti-Access Area Denial tactics to counter the United State's air and naval power in the 2010's, other think-tanks such as the RAND Corporation began exploring concepts that may extend stand-off bombing capabilities for the US military.[13]
  • Airdrops of supplies have been commonplace since World War II but Rapid Dragon differs from modern palletized airdrops in that the parachute is rigged so that the missile cargo is oriented nose down. As each missile is released in series, it falls out of its barrel like cell, its wings and tail deploy, the engine ignites and the missile performs a pull up maneuver and proceeds to its target.[1]
  • Rapid Dragon adds standoff range and modularity to prior offensive airdrop approaches, allowing vulnerable but massive capacity cargo planes to be used at much greater distances from target, allowing the greater flexibility and lower cost of temporarily repurposing unmodified cargo planes as standoff cruise missile bombers. Current research efforts include enhancing Rapid Dragon to support missions such as precision aerial mine laying and drone dispersal.[2][8] Similar work has also been conducted with the experimental Dynetics X-61 Gremlins to prove the feasibility of deploying and retrieving unmanned aerial vehicles from the back of a C-130 aircraft.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Air Force Material Command release 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Air Force Research Laboratory 2022.
  3. ^ Mizokami 2021.
  4. ^ Air Force plans more tests of amphibious, armed MC-130J airlifter. Air Force Times. 22 September 2022.
  5. ^ a b Hollings 2022b.
  6. ^ Hollings 2022c.
  7. ^ a b Hollings 2022.
  8. ^ a b Host 2021.
  9. ^ 352nd Special Operations Wing Public Affairs. "ATREUS 2022-4 - JASSM Live Fire". Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Retrieved 9 November 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Hambling 2020.
  11. ^ Jenkins 1999.
  12. ^ Gurler 2003.
  13. ^ Rozsa 2015.
  14. ^ Larson 2021.

References


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