The U.S. Air Force Rapid Dragon Program completed two more successful demonstrations during its first system-level flight tests of this potential new capability at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico in July 2021.
The tests assessed the operational utility of delivering long-range strike weapons en masse from military cargo aircraft, and showcased the ability for a Beyond-Line-of-Sight Command and Control node to transfer Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range cruise missile targeting data to airborne Air Force Special Operations Command and Air Mobility Command aircraft.
The Rapid Dragon Program is a fast-paced experimentation campaign led by the Air Force Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (SDPE) office. The SDPE office, along with its partners, Air Force Futures, Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Mobility Command, U.S. Special Operations Command Det 1, and the 412th Test Wing, completed its first system-level flight test on EC-130SJ and C-17A aircraft.
The aircraft-agnostic Battle Management System onboard the aircraft received new targeting data and uploaded it to a JASSM-ER emulator. The JASSM-ER emulator successfully demonstrated the ability to retarget missiles while the aircraft was airborne. This set in motion the airdrop of the palletized weapon deployment system from each aircraft. While stabilized and descending under-chute, this new deployment system sequentially released multiple JASSM-ER mass simulants and demonstrated the ability to safely de-conflict the airspace between weapon release intervals. This capability can provide combatant commanders greater flexibility to respond in dynamic operational environments.