Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

A US plan to drop bombs from cargo planes hit another milestone, but the Air Force is still figuring out how it would use it in a war

A US plan to drop bombs from cargo planes hit another milestone, but the Air Force is still figuring out how it would use it in a war

"We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory," a US officer said before the November 9 test.

US Air Force special operators and other US and foreign military personnel dropped a cruise missile on a pallet from a cargo plane over Norway in early November in a first-of-its-kind test in Europe.

It was another milestone for the US Air Force's Rapid Dragon program, which aims to equip cargo aircraft for long-range attacks in order to expand the US arsenal of strike aircraft and make it harder for adversaries to target US forces.

The US military is already showing allies how to use their cargo planes in a similar way, but the Air Force is still sorting out the logistics of operating those improvised bombers.


A palletized munition falls from an MC-130J during a live-fire test in Norway on November 9.

The test on November 9 took place inside the Arctic Circle at the Andøya Space Defense Range in northern Norway.

An MC-130J, the special-operations variant of the C-130, from the UK-based 352nd Special Operations Wing deployed the Rapid Dragon Palletized Effects System, which was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory to launch long-range cruise missiles using standard airdrop procedures.

Pallets carrying Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range cruise missiles, which have a range of about 600 miles, "were sequentially released on a range over the Norwegian Sea," the laboratory said in a press release.

Footage released by the 352nd Wing shows an MC-130J dropping a pallet, its parachutes unfurling, and a missile deploying and flying under its own power before striking the ocean and detonating.

This was the first live-fire Rapid Dragon test since a December 2021 test over the Gulf of Mexico and the first test in the US European Command area on responsibility.

Rapid Dragon has "advanced rapidly from a concept on paper to a live fire using a developmental prototype in 24 months," Dean Evans, the program manager, said in a release.

"Now less than three years from the program's inception, Rapid Dragon is being used by [US Special Operations Command Europe] in the Arctic Circle. This is a testament to the team's focus on rapid fielding," Evans added.

A palletized munition falls from an MC-130J at Andøya Space Defense Range on November 9.


Rapid Dragon is now expanding from "palletized munitions" to "palletized effects," which includes "non-kinetic" munitions, cargo resupply, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms, the AFRL said.

The November 9 exercise was also part of European Command's Atreus operation series, begun in April 2021 with the goal of training with NATO forces on capabilities located in Europe.

A video released by US Special Operations Command Europe shows US and Polish personnel conducting "palletized precision effects cargo training" with a Polish C-130 on November 8.


'Provocative without being escalatory'


US and Polish personnel load palletized munitions on a C-130 in Powidz on November 8.


Rapid Dragon is meant to expand the fleet of aircraft that can deploy long-range weapons by incorporating cargo planes, like the C-17 and C-130, that can operate from more bases than traditional bomber aircraft.

Bolstering that fleet with aircraft that can operate from more bases is meant to frustrate adversaries that might target those aircraft and bases in a conflict — in line with other Air Force efforts to disperse its operations, especially in the Pacific.

"An MC-130J is the perfect aircraft for this capability because we can land and operate from a 3,000-foot highways and austere landing zones whereas a bomber cannot," Lt. Col. Valerie Knight, 352nd Wing mission commander, said in a release.

A crew qualified to drop heavy equipment could also deploy the Rapid Dragon pallet, Knight said, echoing officials who say the capability could be adopted by other militaries.

US Air Force personnel load a Rapid Dragon deployment system on an MC-130J before a test in November 2021.


"The beauty of that capability is it doesn't require any aircraft modifications. It doesn't require any special aircrew training. It really just takes advantage of the characteristics of that platform," Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, head of US Air Force Special Operations Command, told reporters at the Air and Space Forces Association conference in September.

"We've got a lot of allies and partners that have cargo airplanes. They don't necessarily have deep-magazine heavy bombers," Slife added, "but if we can give them similar kinds of capability to use with the cargo platforms we have, then we're helping our partners become more capable."

Slife said a C-130 can carry as many long-range precision munitions as a B-52, and a C-17 can carry three times as many. The desire for more long-range-strike options is driven in large part by the emergence of adversaries with their own long-range arsenals — chiefly China, but also Russia.

From the Andøya range, major Russian bases on the Kola Peninsula would be within range of the JASSM-ER, but the test "is not signaling to Russia or any adversary," US Army Capt. Margaret Collins told The Barents Observer before it was conducted.

A simulated cruise missile deploys its wings and tail after separating from the palletized munition container during a November 2021 test.


However, the US was "trying to deter Russian aggression" by demonstrating enhanced capabilities with allies, Lt. Col. Lawrence Melnicoff told Stars and Stripes ahead of the November 9 test.

"It puts this thing within range of Russia. We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory," said Melnicoff, Special Operations Command Europe's lead officer for Operation Atreus.

Expanding the number of planes and bases involved in long-range strikes brings logistical challenges, especially in the Pacific, where the distances are vast and facilities the Air Force wants to start using are often rudimentary.

Slife said the logistical issues reflect something "we're paying a lot of attention to right now, which is this idea that we're going to operate in very distributed, austere kind of environments and so forth. Even austere environments need some kind of logistics infrastructure, right?"

"Part of what we're working through on the palletized munitions thing is weapons storage and how do we actually think our way through where do we think we're going to keep these weapons, how are they going to be configured, do we really want them out in the middle of a field somewhere next to a straight stretch of road?" Slife added. "We're kind of working our way through the logistics implications of these kind of concepts for how we operate."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×