Rapid Dragon sluppet nær Norge i test fra USAF MC-130J - Defense Daily

 

Watch this US Air Force cargo plane launch a cruise missile in Norway

By Stephen Losey

 Nov 10, 05:22 PM

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Sjekk videoen i artikkelen her: https://tinyurl.com/3ucp4v46

A U.S. Air Force MC-130J Commando II executes the first-ever European-theater live-fire demonstration of a Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile during exercise Atreus in Norway on Nov. 9, 2022. (Staff Sgt. Izabella Workman/U.S. Air Force)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has for the first time in an overseas test used its Rapid Dragon system, in which cruise missiles on pallets are launched from the back of a mobility aircraft.

An MC-130J Commando II from the 352nd Special Operations Wing launched a Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range cruise missile using the system nicknamed “bomb bay in a box” in a range over the Norwegian Sea on Wednesday, the Air Force Research Laboratory said.

Dean Evans, the program manager for Rapid Dragon, said the successful test shows how quickly the program is progressing, noting that it moved from a concept on paper to a live-fire test in two years.

“Now, less than three years from the program’s inception, Rapid Dragon is being used by [U.S. Special Operations Command Europe] in the Arctic Circle,” Evans said in a release. “This is a testament to the team’s focus on rapid fielding to meet warfighter needs.”

The command posted a video online Wednesday that shows the test process at Norway’s Andøya Space Defense Range from multiple perspectives. A parachute attached to the Rapid Dragon deployment box is tossed from the open cargo bay of the MC-130, which then unfurls and swiftly pulls the pallet out of the aircraft.