JUST IN: AFSOC Testing ‘Unconventional’ Capabilities for Cargo Aircraft
9/7/2022
By Meredith Roaten
Air Force Special Operations Command is experimenting with adding nontraditional capabilities to its fleet of cargo planes to give the command more tactical options within its budget constraints, according to its commander.
The command is in the midst of testing an amphibious operations modification for its MC-130, said Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command at an Air and Space Forces Association event. A successful test last December also demonstrated that an AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range could be launched from the back ramp of a C-130.
“It's not actually about the JASSM. It's about the unconventional use of platforms that we have available,” he said on Sept. 7.
The test last year — a partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory — was just the start of the command’s effort to be more flexible with its existing platforms, he said. The program called Rapid Dragon is also exploring how a pallet of missiles could be dropped from the back of a C-17.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/9/7/afsoc-testing-unconventional-capabilities-for-cargo-aircraft
