Air Force shows off its Rapid Dragon cruise missile system on China’s doorstep
Story by Max Hauptman • Wednesday
During a multi-nation training exercise in the Pacific this month, the Air Force tested out one of its newest and most unique weapons — a demonstration that Chinese officials likey were paying close attention to.
US forces in the Pacific wrapped up Mobility Guardian 2023 on July 21, a sprawling exercise testing the range and capabilities of some of the Air Force’s largest cargo planes. Sometime during the week, a freighter conducted a test of the Air Force’s Rapid Dragon, a unique system that launches long-range cruise missiles from cargo planes by first dropping them by parachute from the rear of a cargo plane.
Normally, cruise missiles — which can fly to targets hundreds and even thousands of miles away — are only deployed by large bombers like the B-1 or B-52. But with Rapid Dragon, the Air Force’s fleet of normally unarmed and cargo-only C-17s and C-130s might get in the fight.
It’s a capability that Derek Solen, a senior researcher at the U.S. Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute, thinks will catch the attention of China’s military, widely known as the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/air-force-shows-off-its-rapid-dragon-cruise-missile-system-on-china-s-doorstep/ar-AA1eoNge?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=271afb5a6554422ca6385f6a7c2cc1ec&ei=33
