Rapid Dragon: The USAFs Incredible New Missile System 

Before: it is just a Cargo Plane Now: Oh no it is A Cargo Plane

"Hey, Earl, I bet it would be funny to just load them missiles up in some milk crates and dump 'em out the back." "You know what Bo? I think you got something there. We can put a parachute thing on 'em and just pump them babies out!!" Lockheed Martin exec: "This is why I vacation in Florida."

A dump truck of cruise missiles, definitely an American innovation.

Simon, one thing you forgot to mention is stealth, Cruise missiles, specifically LRASM, Stormshadow and their ilke, all fly at around 25-40m from the ground, over the sea this can be as low as 5m depending on sea state, this makes them challenging for any radar system, but the US is now coating some in the same materials that the F-35 and F-22 are coated in, coupled to their already small size and profile to deflect incoming radar signals, this makes them virtually undetectable before it is too late for air defense systems to react and engage. With ships, this is somewhat easier as most have radar that can work across sea level and they have close in defense systems that can engage very rapidly, but as you pointed out, in a swarm, especially from multiple directions, that becomes ever more challenging.

The ultimate flex turning your 500 cargo aircraft into strike aircraft. The US can now air launch 15,000 cruise missiles.

HOW DOES THIS DUDE HAVE SO MANY CHANNELS I CANNOT ESCAPE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO OUTSIDE

The voice crack at 3:30 is awesome.

Whoever designed the original Hercules, probably never imagined that it would become the world's most offensive aeroplane, with the AC-130 gunship, and being able to drop Rapid Dragons. The simulations of attacks using Rapid Dragons in DCS are.... rather devastating, to say the least. FYI: I think it was Korea's famous King Sejong, the inventor of Korean's Hangul characters, who also invented the rocket-arrow machine launcher.

One word " Sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads "

Rapid Dragon: When you have to wipe out an entire near peer opponent's coastline by 7 am, but also need to make it to your dentist appointment by 8 am.

Rapid Dragon, the newest evolution of the venerable - pointed stick.

This guy just follows you around RU-vid from channel to channel

Imagine 4-6 C17's with 2 of them loaded with decoys and 4 loaded with actual missiles. It's hard to imagine a possible defence to this. 90 decoys and 180 missiles incoming, that could easily completely destroy several military bases.

I just think its wild the US named anything of theirs after anything remotely related to China, let alone something as iconic as the dragon carts. In gratitude, the PLA is set to name their next aircraft carrier after Bull Halsey.

Rapid Dragon, a fearsome weapon system firing missiles with a name where jazz hands come to mind (AGM-158 JASSM)

An understated detail is the versatility of the deployment of the AGM-158B missile. It's a guided weapon able to be launched from a variety aircraft. It was not long ago when guided weapons could only be deployed from specific platforms with specific accommodations.

this weapon feels like it'd be a Kill streak reward and just basically carpet part of the map with explosions.

Imagine a line of dozens of aircraft each dropping a couple of those pallets. Change "the arrows blackened the sky" to missiles.

Imagine flexing on the competition and stealing a kickass code name that they were absolutely going to use on their next new toy. Little espionage tongue in cheek.

Spoiler alert: there is a grand total of zero dragons in this video. If your here for the dragons, like many were, you'll find none. If you woke up today and thought, I'd love to see some badass dragons while Simon Whistler talks words in the background, turn around now. I repeat...Here = No dragons.

Very good video. Another precedent to mention, only on a larger scale, is the test on October 24, 1974 when a Minuteman missile was launched from a C5 Galaxy. Greetings from Patagonia Argentina.

I think an unintended consequence of this might be that it could make civilian aircraft viable targets.

2:14 OOOOHHHH!! Never considered a pallet of Dragon-dropped Switchblade UAVs! 🤯

I remember when I was on C-130's back in the early 2000's this was discussed. The concept has been bounced around since at least the 60's. But it never got pat the "Hey check this idea out" on the back of a napkin at a run down bar. From what I've seen so far from open source, this is an incredible system. It's probably going to take it's use in combat for most of the public to really understand what kind of capability this gives NATO and other US allies. With minimal training and modification, ANY cargo aircraft of US allies can have firepower usually reserved for strategic bombers or naval warships. And they can be on station within hours. I have a feeling Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea are already in discussions for buying a few once they go to full production. As well as more than a few European nations.

The best part is America now has stealth cruise missles, which means invisible rapid dragon deployment.

The Swarm Drone concept is still my favorite

Spare a thought for the cargo officer who has just pushed out 80,000 times his lifetime wages worth of missiles out the back of the plane he's on...

The fact that this is on RU-vid tells me this is old tech and their past this already

Low key I was in that video you showed with the Patriot system

All the rapid zooming of the camera is very distracting

Mega project idea. How Chicago reversed the flow of the Mississippi River

Lol, The great Hercules.. the "hold my beer" of aircraft.

Video starts at an unbelievable 6:06.

Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.

Am I the only one who saw "Rapid Dragon Reborn" and immediately thought of Robert Jordan?

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.

Kudos to the editor for including a clip from the movie Wing Commander (really bad adaptation of the games) A guilty pleasure movie for me. :)

Your destiny isn't just fate; it is how you use your own developed abilities to get what you want.

Worked on the engines powering these bad boys. Cheap and reliable.

“Relax Vlad, it’s only a single C130. Probably full of Bud Light.”

Genius way to start this video. It spoke directly to my “unga dunga” brain

2:15 this reminds of the first time I had to face the Arsenal bird in ace combat 7. An endless swarm all coming at you.

My understanding is that most high-quality modern air defense systems (e.g. Patriot, Iron Dome) can track and engage dozens to even over 100 targets simultaneously. The potential danger to them is that they usually don't have as many SAMs available for simultaneous launch, leading to the idea of a saturation attack (firing more missiles than the defending system can shoot down in one go). Think of the Iranian attack on Israel a couple months ago, which likely would have overwhelmed Israeli air defenses if the US, Jordan, and other aligned forces hadn't intervened to shoot down portions of the barrage.

the most significant military innovations are often the ones that introduce flexibility factors. the recurve bow basically turned every Herder in the steppe belt into a deadly soldier and a supply train in the same body

Both fascinating yet terrifying at the same time.

3:46 The B-1 is a beautiful and underrated jet.

2:15 I like this concept, my estimation is this animation shows about 150 individual warheads seperating, and the core launcher could still be designed to have it's own massive warhead and guidance system.

Nice little bit of Wing Commander right there at the end!

I have always loved cruise missiles! When I was a student at Georgia Tech back in the Eighties we had a presentation from General Dynamics. They were trying to recruit soon-to-graduate students. When it got to the Q&A the presenter called on me and I asked, "What is the yield of the--" He interrupted with a smile and instantly said "Sorry, don't know. Next question -- you in the blue shirt..."

Imagine pallet drops at the same time an F-15EX deploys its very long range cruise missiles at the same time: one set to take out defenses, while the other takes out dams...

I just love, how he explains stuff in caveman terms, so we understand.

That very last clip just at videos end was from the Wing Commander film! Bravo to the editor for that one 🙂

"Shut up and take my money!" -- Fry, _Futurama_

To bring anything into your life, imagine that it's already there

That's 45 in a C-17? So in a C-5 Galaxy, you're probably getting like 60-80

bro hittn with the wing commander clip at the end.

"From throwing stones, to bows, to cannons and mortars...." Good to know Simon in a Civ player. Surprised he has the time lol

Bold is not the act of foolishness but the attribute and inner strength to act when others will not so as to move forward not backward.

they are working on a drone variant as well, instead of missiles it will be a drone dispenser with built in EW tech to block enemy drones/missiles from hitting them as easy, an EW tech "pallet" with a multiple balloon/parachute system to inflate a single balloon or throw another parachute to hold it up until it gets popped/torn then shoot up another balloon/parachute for increased survivability and run time would be nice, since EW tech broadcasts in a SPHERE or focused cone and not just a hemisphere *looks at flockheed shartin* can`t wait for the 7th gens the electromagnetic tech on them is stupid good

This reminds me of David Weber's Honor Harrington sci-fi series. In it, space naval combat 'evolved' from combat battleship/submarine types to glorified tug boats towing pods and pods of missiles, fire and forget over vast distances giving the defender little time to detect and counter it.

The delivery system is cost efficient compared to the alternatives. Which is good because the missiles themselves are expensive.

I heard it named "The infomercial" because it launches a barrage and then goes "But wait, there's more!" and cue pallet #2 and then again for #3.

With this weapon carrier it is possible to use transport aircraft with a tail ramp as a strategic bomber. Most of the world's air forces do not have long-range bombers and many do not have tankers. This makes it possible to use civil aircraft with tail ramps as bombers from civil airfields.

My pitch for the opening sequence for the next Mission Impossible - Tom Cruise clinging to a deployed Rapid Dragon cruise missile box... Cue multiple launch, and his team has to take control of one so he can ride the last cruise missile to catch and destroy the rest!

Did you forget the palletized ICBM test? A Rapid Dragon with cruise missiles is good, but imagine if they had anti-air missiles to take out aircraft or ballistic missiles.

Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that.

Rapid because of how quickly it can be deployed, Draggin because that's what Uncle Sam is doing with his nuts across the enemy's face. Any other Fat Electrician fans here? Check it out if you want the short version of this

Douglas figured the best way to succeed was to do the opposite of what he'd been doing all his life.

OMG USAF here this is first time i heard but ive been away

Soon we will have both the funnel system and mobile dolls from Gundam. What a time to be alive.

Nice! I want one. I have a Putlerian place I want to fly it to at high speed.

An informative episode about US Rapid dragons 🐉 missiles...

Military spending may have decreased, but military innovation is still alive and well.

Another issue with sending your planes up to attack incoming cruise missiles is that you run the real risk of friendly fire. It also opens your air force up to stealth fighters - especially with the new long range air to air missiles that can be launched from non-stealthy planes and guided in by stealth assets.

A bunch of C5s loaded with ultra stealthy cruise missiles protected by a bunch of F22s, F35s and F15ex with stealth sentinel drones , followed by a bunch of C130 gunships and A10s

What's great is that *all the other allies* of the US that use the same planes can also use this concept easily.

Cruise missile bukkake

The US military looked at the Jericho missile from Iron Man and said “I want that!”

Congratulations that's how you make every suspiciously perceived cargo plane a possible preemptive target.

Now do rapid dragon with the AIM-174 and a data linked F-22 or F-35. Now you have an increased range air missile in a platform with long range endurance.

This video was posted after the Three Gorges dam vid... are you trying to tell us something? ;)

(Insert clip of Grant Imahara bellowing, "HWACHAAAAAA!")

TLDR: The US now has the ability to sling massive amounts of highly accurate JASSM from cargo planes and into the eyes of any who threaten it. (I'm sorry. I'm 43 going on 12. I'll see myself out.)

As long as the USAF realizes that this means they can no longer expect an enemy to leave their supply aircraft alone - or blame an enemy for shooting one down.

Have you done a video on the rods from god concept?

That missile animation had me thinking that they were loading up a plane with 46 bombs that then split up and I was like that's insanity

China we have bbadass hypersonic dragon missiles C 117 crew....hold my beer

With this and the hypersonic revolver all our cargo aircraft have just been turned into massive weapons platforms.

*slaps top of crate* This thing can flatten so many schools.

Great vid, that thing terrifyingly effective.

Never seen a release in the first 10 minutes.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

It sounds like a Vibrator...

Simon, I continue to admire your talent as a "presenter," as your fellow Brits are fond of saying. Speed! Information density! Perfect enunciation! Bravo.

Cargo aircraft require air superiority which isn’t always the case.

Puff the Rapid Dragon Lives in the air And jettisons its cruise missiles That then go everywhere

All of you laughed at Gundam for spewing missiles everywhere but here we are, it was just an AI swarm of drones with warheads doin' their best!

2:00 “the worst that could happen” ….is actually collateral damage of unintended targets that could escalate the situation out of control. But hey, war machine, amiright. 😣

The spa attendant applied the deep cleaning mask to the gentleman’s back.

is it just me, or are the audio dynamics getting worse over the last couple videos? last year I had no problems listening, even as non-native speaker. Lately it's super common I need to rewind because I didn't get the end of sentences because the voice is getting so weak. Idk, a mic change, different mixing or just more whispered than before. Just listen to the "legendary status" at 1:20.