Advanced network capabilities were key to the most recent test of an MC-130J special operations transport plane transformed into a missile truck.
By Joseph Trevithick June 7, 2021
The War Zone
Joseph Trevithick
The MC-130J's simulated JASSM launches were part of the latest iteration of the biennial Northern Edge exercise, which took place in and around Alaska in May, but the Air Force only announced this test on June 4, 2021. The U.S. military, as a whole, regularly uses Northern Edge exercises as an opportunity to test are routinely used to test and evaluate new and improved capabilities and hardware, with a particular emphasis on communications and data-sharing.
USAF
A C-17A Globemaster III airlifter drops a simulated pallet load of AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles during an earlier test as part of what is now known as the Rapid Dragon program.
"This enhanced capability can provide combatant commanders additional targeting flexibility and control in the prosecution of the high-end fight," Dr. Dean Evans, the Rapid Dragon Program Manager at the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation Office, or SDPE, said in a statement. "Additionally, the retargeting methodology used is transferrable to other strike platforms, potentially making all JASSM-capable strike assets more lethal in an increasingly complicated and dynamic near-peer conflict."
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40958/mc-130j-commando-ii-simulated-launching-a-pallet-of-cruise-missiles-in-mock-strike-mission
