Air Force Unveils First Test Of Arsenal Plane Concept And New CLEAVER Munition
The Air Force is now actively pursuing a stand-off strike capability for its cargo aircraft.
By Joseph TrevithickMay 27, 2020
The War Zone
The U.S. Air Force conducted a test earlier this year of a palletized munition concept to launch new stand-off precision-guided munitions from its airlifters, allowing the service to relatively quickly turn them into weapons trucks, as necessary. This has also prompted important discussions within the service about command and control issues and other operational considerations that would be involved when rapidly shifting cargo aircraft into a strike role.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) revealed the test, which took place at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah on Jan. 28, 2020 in cooperation with Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), in a press release on May 27, 2020. Air Force Major General Clinton Hinote, the Deputy Director of the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability (AFWIC) office, offered additional details about the project during an online chat that the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute hosted on the same day. Aviation Week's Defense Editor and good friend of The War Zone Steve Trimble was kind enough to curate some of Hinote's comments and post them on Twitter. This also a concept that has been around in various forms for decades and that the Air Force had publicly announced, by way of a contracting notice in February that you can read more about in this past War Zone piece, that it was looking to explore again.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/33716/air-force-unveils-first-test-of-arsenal-plane-concept-and-new-cleaver-munition
