America's plan to make arsenal ships out of cargo planes 

I retired from the USAF as a C-130 Loadmaster with over 5,000 hrs. of flight time and was proud to have flown the Herk. This makes me even more excited about the continuing legacy of the C-130 which after 68 years continues to be in production to this day.

I never got chills watching a RU-vid video before. You took the request to cover Rapid Dragon and you went to town. You got the planes correct, the costs, and the hypothetical possibilities that make this program a game changer for the future of near peer warfare. Alex found new information about the LRASM being used for naval combat that I haven't even seen yet. Ahhhhhhhh dude this was great. Lockheed Martin needs to pay you an affiliation fee!!!

This weapon system paired with AWACS, F35s, F22s, and B2s would be an overwhelming force in the Pacific. I feel like this was the missing piece to nullifying the Chinese threat in the Pacific you've spoken of in previous videos.

This is an UNCREDITED capability that can/will greatly increase our ability to defend Taiwan and whatever else. It’s a MAJOR improvement for an extremely nominal cost, very little cost compared to our interests which are quite significant. This is a very very well done video. Thank you Alex for the information and the quality of your videos. Good work dude👍 This is America thinking brilliantly. Great!! One of my truly favorite RU-vid channels

The secret to destroying an enemy that relies on mass is the proliferation of cheap force multipliers. Enemy got 10,000 tanks? Proliferate smart cluster munitions and anti-tank missiles. Enemy got a 1000 warships? Proliferate stand-off multi-platform anti-ship missiles.

I am surprised smaller countries like Japan and Australia aren't jumping all over this. They would have have what is basically a cheap heavy bomber

This is a smart strategy because it leverages the fact that the US will have initial air superiority. Initial air superiority doesn't necessarily mean you will win in the longer term, but if that allows you to fill the skies with precision weapons that initial advantage will be permanent and actually a knockout blow.

Isn't there a large logistics advantage that you forgot to cover? Typically the missiles will be loaded aboard ships or cargo aircraft and transported forward to basis then loaded aboard other aircraft to be launched. This concept cuts out the middleman if you will so the cargo plane that would deliver the missiles for future handling simply fires them at the enemy instead. It greatly reduces the time from manufacture of the weapon to its use and reduces the resources necessary to achieve that.

Everyone talks about using this with C-130’s and C-17’s. But what about the C-5 Galaxy? Just imagine the missile storm from that!

Considering how effective Harpoon has been in the black sea, maybe they need a Harpoon version. Granted, it doesn't have as much stand-off potential, launched from the air, probably about 100 miles. But you could pack an incredible number of them into such a rack system. And they're fairly inexpensive missiles compared to 158's.

USAF just needs to invest $3 to $5 Billion dollars in long range cruise missile procurement ASAP. (And I mean on top of existing planned cruise missile procurement.) Be the cheapest anti-World War III investment ever.

Could you imagine seeing on radar a mass of aircraft headed towards you. Only to see more radar contacts pop up as the original contacts turn away. Then those new contacts disappear from the radar entirely. I'd hate to be on the receiving end. I really hope this is fielded soon and not thrown away.

I don't think you mentioned that an aircraft using this system could launch a few of these palates while carrying cargo

I live near the National Guard Camp with in a state where a lot of airlift is initiated. There is a relatively small airfield there where they occasionally land C-130s. The range of these planes given where these planes can be landed is phenomenal! A flight to the other side of the globe and back is not unusual.

Haha Love the Americans they create some of the most Legandary weapon systems..

47 years ago, I submitted through the US Air Force Suggestion Program a proposal to use airlift assets as potential strategic threats to the Soviet Union using a palletized Air Launched Cruise Missiles. A plan at that time was to use B 747 aircraft using a rotary launch system but the idea was discarded because this mode would make civil airliners targets. However, C-130, C-141 and C-5 were military assets and were routinely visitors to places where nuclear weapons were stored. Oh well, I continue to flesh out my idea to use the USS Constitution (still a commissioned warship) in a plan to attach Zurich.

It would be a huge force multiplier if loaded with large payloads of advanced air launched decoys, including some equipped with jammers to completely overwhelm enemy air defenses in a decisive day-one alpha strike. Combined with stealth assets, and stand off offensive ECM, there is not a force or combination of forces that could defend against such a capability.

Combine this with a larger 2x2 palletized high altitude single use ucav with basic targeting capabilities and a deployable load of stormbreakers that would fly upwards in the 40k foot altitude range to drop its bombs at a range of 150-200 miles, and you have a classic high/low attack pattern. Enemy air defenses focus on the stormbreaker deployment that it can see while the jassms it can't see yet come low and get close. That same 2x2 vehicle could even feasibly deploy amraams or other A2A or anti radiation weapons.

I never get tired of seeing a C130 land on a Carrier! 👍

It was said long ago, and still remains true "All forms of warfare, is a war of attrition". Not trying to act big brained but it's true, and always has been. Doesn't matter if its time, money, personal, supplies it is a war of attrition. The goal is ultimately do more damage to the advisory for less than it costs you (though there is exceptions). For example having a 1 to 1 loss can be viewed favorably by a nation which has more of that supply (be it weapons, soldiers, jets, ships, etc) if it means you are equally wearing down the opposition at the same rate. If you lose 500 of 2000 jets, but manage to destroy all 500 of the opponent you have a significant upperhand. Even 2-1 would still be favorable in the grand scheme of things/long run, and this is something folks never consider.

Thinking about this from a cost perspective, you could get 10 of this missile pallets for the cost of 1 hypersonic missile. Lets say the target was a massed fleet, im putting my money on the 60 Jassm’s doing far more damage than 1 boost glide vehicle

Wow, this was a knock it out of the park report and your visuals was spot on. Thank you for an amazing episode.

This channel is quickly becoming my favorite... Nice work!

Admiral Flatley was my Skipper, on the USS Saratoga. Really good man and smart. I went on liberty with his son James(4th). Great Naval Aviation family and a true honor to serve with them.....even though I was just a lowly pit snipe.

We (Northrop) proposed this concept to the Army (using a missile we had designed for them) in 1979. It's nice to see that the DOD has made such "rapid" progress.

Having sailed on a Ro-Ro ship almost 50 years ago, I am glad to see the the Air Force finally catching up to the Merchant Marine :^). Seriously, this is a great concept. I hope the Air Force takes advantage of it.

Fighters are too small for laser weapons, based on our current level of laser tech, but cargo planes are just the right size.

Another potential plaform for this system is the Osprey vertacle takeoff aircraft. Osprey's can use many helicopter capable platforms, so big carrier may not be the only host for these weapons.

This seems like a really sensible utilization of existing platforms. They use China as an example here but of course, this can be used anywhere in the world. I am sure that concepts are being drawn up for other types of ordinances to be used in these roll-on roll-off boxes. Also, it's always great to see that footage of the C-130 landing and taking off from an aircraft carrier. Makes me wonder what other useful things the US military has in their back pocket that people just do not know about.

From a readiness standpoint, it’s pretty brilliant.

China: *eyes Taiwan* USA: Nice invasion force you got there. It would be a shame if dozens of C130s took off from Okinawa a mere 400 miles away, each packing dozens of smart standoff weapons and picked off all your ships from just outside air defense range...

For those who might have been hesitant in their acceptance of this concept, you brilliantly remove all doubts. Warmest compliments. :)

Holly shit. THAT IS AIR POWER.

@Sandboxx - Could you cover if the Switchblade 600 Anit-Tank Drone could be used against Chinese Ships to defend the Taiwanese Strait? They're supposedly $10K a piece and have a 50 mile range or a 25 mile range with a 20 minute loitering time. If anyone else wants to see this topic covered, please hit like. Thank you.

C-130 landing on Aircraft Carriers are even more possible with better flight deck of the Ford class carriers.

They need to do the same thing with oil transport ships with vertical launch tubes for longer range missles at sea

The Flatley family have a long and distinguished naval aviator history, I got to speak with Seamus myself once, it's amazing you got to speak to his father James too!

This is a true game changer. The only problem is the Air Force won't find it flashy, stealthy, or fast. This means the Air Force will either never do it or the Air Force will do it but will bitch about it for years. They will swear it needs to be replaced as soon as it arrives. See the story of the A-10 if you need a reference.

Amazing Video Alex, Continue to bring the good stuff... Let's hope Japan, South Korea, Australia and most importantly Taiwan get these ASAP!!!

My dad worked for Lockheed in the 60s, he was part of the C-5 team in Marietta. In his home office library, he had a book of artist renderings of the C-5 armed with missiles. Looked bad ass!

Pretty sure this is a concept that is fully field-capable. Most likely, the folks at DARPA behind this project are probably champing at the bit to give it a "real-time, real battle" field exercise ASAP. Hmmmmm - I wonder where THAT could be...?

A Hercules touching down on a carrier would be an interesting addition to the next _Top Gun_ movie.

Now imagine a swarm of space based and air based arsenal ships carrying space based lasers and anti ballistic missiles working as a web to knock out incoming enemy ballistic missiles

You know what's cooler than a C-130 launching a missile? A C-130 recovering a full sized drone. I saw the video on RU-vid somewhere, can't remember where

jeez, I thought Strike Eagles were heavy lifters, this is like dropping a mountain on a target. I never really gave this idea much thought without having fighter escorts and air superiority to render airspace uncontested but with long-range munitions and establishing area-denial to further secure ground and prevent it being retaken, sounds like a hoot. Now I’m wondering how much they could put into a C5

By far the best Show on the internet, I know nothing about planes but I Love them so I learn here. Thanks Alex.

I think this weapon system with C-130 and carrier launch concept is a good idea.I like the Rapid Dragon concept.

i love how this channel shows off technology developed 50 years ago!

🏆🏆🏆👍🇺🇲🙏 Thank you for sharing .

C130s landing & taking off carriers? That's awe-inspiring!

I have been following Rapid Dragon but had not thought about the implications of being able to expand the capability to ALLIES who operate the C-130. WOW.

The weak link here is that satelites will see these big beasts allowing defense attacks to take out the planes fully loaded, like hitting a weapons depot before weapons can be deployed.

I just wish there would be research into launching AWACS SAMs from these airlifters. If PAC-3s can launch from F-15s using pods and ICBMs can be launched from an airlifter, surely an Aegis or Patriot missile Salvo can be launched from a cargo plane to skirmish and dominate any aerial engagement before the fighters get within range of each other.

I am not certain if designers had this in mind when it was devised, but, IMO, it could be a GREAT answer for Chinese/Russian Club-K intermodal weapons boxes. I'd rather have an aero-based system available than ship or rail tied transportation systems, and even though it lacks the 'portability' and diversity of ways it might travel, A jet is so many times faster than a ship, rail or tractor-trailer and unlimited in where it can go. Either way, this is a potential game-changer and with all of the 'new toys' the reds have sprung up with lately, this gives me a bit of faith that there is SOME sense of practicality being put into our weapons design.

It would allow us to do what we seem to do best: build potent specialized highly advanced platforms and weapons in smaller numbers allowing us to prevent that trillion dollar whoopsy of a one size fits all (poorly) trap that our military development programs constantly walk right into to be at least mitigated, if not eradicated entirely.

imagine any plane where u put a multiple drones modular container (with vary degrees of autonomy and deadly capabilities for Air - Land - Sea doctrine)...yeah deadly as hell.

I can hear the Air Force now: “But, but, but it isn’t expensive enough.”

one step closer to my dream of seeing a real life arsenal bird

Could the real LRASM missiles be mixed with decoys to really saturate the enemy defenses and make them consume all their interceptors at a lower cost?

Back in the 70s or 80s, Saddam Hussein send a business-jet to France to be fitted with a Mirage radar-nose and Exocet missiles. If I remember correctly, it worked well, but was only used once. One wonders what you could do with a modern platform like that today ? Not just for air-to-ground, but also something that could SPAMRAM (launch a lot of AMRAMS in quick succession) at long distance and then get out at out at about Mach 1.

Thank you, Alex, for restoring my faith in the Arsenal of Democracy at a moment when we are but half-way through one of the most, if not THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE POTUS in the history of this, the Greatest Nation in the history of nations. Knowing that there may still be men, and even some women, in positions of power and influence that never take their eyes off the ball is not merely reassuring, it is actually encouraging.

Man, those Hercy Birds are the most versatile aircraft ever built. And they're tough as nails.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Tacoma is home to a significant portion of the Air Force's C-17 fleet, and is a major airlift hub. So we already have the aircraft and accompanying logistics in position for Rapid Dragon should a fight with China arise.

I'm glad there are people that still use their minds for thinking,

Great video! This makes me think about Starship, and how it could be used as a ballistic arsenal delivery platform. It could probably pack a hundred JASSM's, and could deliver them intercontinentally in 20 or 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the ship itself would be landing in enemy territory and as such would not be recoverable/reusable, at least not immediately. On the other hand, the ship itself could contribute to the attack by landing on top of some large enemy asset such as a weapons factory or ammo depot, cutting into it like a blow-torch with its Raptor engines.

Dang Bro you covered the analytics on that with perfection..nicely done ✔ 👏 👍

Imagine a heavily armored arsenal ship equipped with the most advanced electronics and targeting systems carrying tons of AiM missiles and sidewinders and high precision Vulcan cannons, a squadron or two of United States next gen piloted fighters and next gen strategic fighter drones. Man that combo would saturate them skies with missiles and vulcan rounds. 😬

Finally the government shows some ingenuity and cost savings. Envisioning a fleet of over 500 planes carrying devastating advanced cruise missiles without jeopardizing the launch platform or spending 100 billion on a new weapons system. Who would have thunk it?

I will confess that I always preferred a "most bang for the buck" approach to military spending, but subsequent events have repeatedly taught me that high tech is best. But that doesn't mean we can't build any most bang for the buck systems. I like to see firepower maximized by using less high tech systems, like the Hercules, C17, and so on. We ought to look for other ways to maximize our firepower with intermediate tech systems delivering them.

The mention of mines potentially dropped in addition to cruise missiles raises the capability significantly. A war ship having to contend with cruise missiles from the air and slightly above sea level, couples with the inability to move ships due to mines in the water, basically traps ships from above and below. Brilliant.

This military technology is a game changer. So many more attack options! Plus wreck the Chinese Navy pronto and almost bloodlessly except for fat targets we present them with. Is there talk about deploying “air-mines”: LTA platforms firing X to air light and heavy flak? Theoretically, some of the arsenal ships could defend the others at least partially with a big escort assist, thus close with the enemy and reduce their reaction time, plus leave calling cards behind when in flight from pursuing interceptors. Flooding ballistic launch sites of minor nuke actors also seems possible. Russia and China might look askance at hundreds of military transports bearing down on them, so we probably have to ban this capability by treaty, at least against one another. I cannot see how to reduce deliverable warhead numbers by negotiation, excepting an across the board weapon ban. I can’t really see how to monitor this disarmament dependably with such a short development run-up time and off-the-shelf launch vehicles, as long as you got a few Tupolev handy. Armenia wipes out Azerbaijan air and drone power overnight kind of thing.

CMC-17 and CMC-130 ( Cruise Middle Cargo) will be pretty damn cool. Thanks for the video. Be well.

You're getting JASSM ranges wrong unless you're talking about the XR version, which only entered LRIP at the end of 2021, and is not currently included in the Rapid Dragon program. Rapid Dragon isn't proposing use of the XR variant though, since it is a large missile and would require the development of a new pallet form factor, which would come with more testing and validation. Like you said, the ER version likely has a maximum range of 600 nautical miles or so, best case. The XR has not been included in the RFP's so far, but I assume it will be if the program succeeds, so I suppose your points stand and I'm being pedantic... Another important factor is missile stocks, and missile production rates. If you're launching 20 missiles at once, you could do that about 100 times before the current stocks would run out. The US would absolutely need to stand up new factories, order larger numbers, and radically increase production rates for this concept to actually make a serious difference in a hot war. This would be costly, yes, but if it's an effective approach to winning a modern war, then it's worth that price tag. Plus, you buy a lot more missiles, and the unit price goes down, just like the F-35A has done. Ultimately, I think for a strategy like this to work, you need a huge investment in the production capacity for these weapons, you need huge existing stocks before a war pops off, and you need to share them with allies so they're distributed and can't be easily knocked out with some extremely large conventionally armed ballistic missile salvos (something China is ostensibly uniquely capable of performing, currently.)

I love the "lowly" C-130. Such a sweet-flying plane. I used to watch the National Guard or Navy reservists practice take-offs and landings during my lunch hour at Willow Grove NAS. *PRETTY* bird! And the pilots seemed to trust them implicitly.

On this day of triumph Friday 24th of June a historic undertaking has been achieved The Institution of Roe V. Wade was recently overturned by the Supreme Court, The notorious institution which had perished countless innocent souls in the camouflage of Women's rights has finally been abolished the Blood and sweat shed for this endeavor is tremendous, The heinous act of abortion which for a long time was sponsored by Taxpayers money has reached its end, This is day celebration to all who cherish unborn lives.

Very comprehensive reporting I appreciate it

I love this channel!

lawl I'm having one of those days... 🤪 My brain decided this video was about military usage of Suborbital *Starship* (cuz, Cargo Dragon and Crew Dragon, is my only guess), so I was a bit bummed when he said Lockheed-Martin and it finally clicked! lol But if you re-watch the first part of the video from the same mindset of "this is talking about Starship", everything still coincidentally made sense as a lead-up to name dropping "SpaceX Starship" instead of "Lockheed-Martin's Rapid Dragon"! Anyways, great video, like always!

Thanks Alex! I enjoyed this episode very much.

While the JASSM-XR with its 1200 mile range can be launched from a safe distance, it is not suitable for anti-ship attacks. The dedicated anti-ship missile mentioned here, AGM-158C LRASM, doesn't have the same range. Wiki says the range was "greater than 200 miles" and "estimated 300 miles". I would, of couse, welcome more specific sources. If these are true, this means the Rapid Dragon is safe from ship-launched anti-air missiles. It might still be vulnerable to air launched PL-21 and PL-15 missiles. The J-20 doesn't seem well suited for dogfighting, but it looks well positioned to take large aircraft from a long range, so the arsenal aircraft will need air protection.

This is actually sick hopefully this will be done

Rapid Dragon Slayer. You may see a version with the AGM-183 Hypersonic missile in the future.

About 400 C-130s x 6 missiles. 220 C-17s x 9 missiles 4,380 missiles. Obviously not every cargo ship would be out launching missiles simultaneously but one tenth of them would launch 438 missiles. We're gonna need a lot of missiles but the enemy is gonna need a lot of ships. Takes a bit longer to build a ship than a missile. Still I hope we have the logistical issues with large scale missile manufacturing sorted out.

Great video…!!! Two thumbs up 👍🏻👍🏻

B1-A was supersonic high altitude strategic bomber. The B1-B was it in the revised more supersized tactical bomber form.

Thank you Alex, as always top notch! Re C-130 landing on a carrier, in the event of emergency carrier requirements I would even go so far as saying attach the cargo to the a makeshift tailhook/stretch cable to unload quickly while the C-130 does a TnG!

Air force always improving air assets which will be deployed from forward operating locations.

We need our allies to have these too so hurry up make a bunch of them.

"At least they wouldn't drop an icbm out the back." 5 minutes into the video "Of course."

Anti-ship cruise missiles dropped from cargo planes, anti-ship hypersonic missiles, anti-ship JDAM's...I see a theme. And I dig it. 😆

Rapid Dragon is even more significant than you might think. This capability means that any civilian cargo aircraft or any cargo carrying aircraft that can so much as fit a single JASSM missile and has a load ramp at the rear can become a long range strike/maritime strike asset with minimal effort.

Gotta love anything that gives the PLAN nightmares...

Great report--thanks!

NGL, that's a brilliant idea for covert ops or covert strikes.

At some point I can imagine applique armour and a modular Javelin launcher for the Tesla Cybertruck :p

If the Doolittle Raiders could do it with the crappy planes they had, something more modern, as in the powerful C-130J model, can do it too. Aerial refueling can get them to a target area from the U.S. mainland, and recovery on an aircraft carrier, light on fuel minus payload wouldn't be too impossible at all if more airborne tankers can't get to them.

This is absolutely terrifying! I can’t even imagine the fear of seeing that many cruise missies coming your way at once. 😮😮😮

These missiles are in full production. And are a Game changer

another excellent video

The name is absolutely tongue in cheek and its brilliant