The US Air Force tested a new missile system in the Pacific that gives cargo planes the ability to launch long-range cruise missiles that are normally fired by large bombers.
The system, known as the Rapid Dragon, allows C-130 and C-17 cargo planes to drop a missile contained in a pallet with a parachute. The Rapid Dragon was tested by the US near Norway last year, which a US military official described as an “intentional provocation” aimed at Russia.
The latest test of the Rapid Dragon was aimed at China as it was conducted during the Mobility Guardian 2023 drills, which were held across the Indo-Pacific, although it’s not clear where in the region the missile was launched. The large-scale exercises involved military detachments from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the UK, and New Zealand.
Gen. Mike Minihan, the head of Air Mobility Command, said the Rapid Dragon system means US cargo planes could be just as much of a threat as bombers. “Now the adversary has an infinitely higher problem to worry about. [They] don’t need to worry just about the bombers, [they] have to worry about this C-130 and every other C-130 on the planet,” he told Aviation Week.
“C-130s can do it. All of our partners and allies fly them, so you can give the adversary an infinite amount of dilemmas that they need to worry about,” Minihan added.
Minihan, a four-star general, made headlines earlier this year when he predicted in a memo to his officers that the US and China will be at war by 2025. The memo is one of many examples of how US military leaders are preparing for a direct war with China as opposed to the proxy war the US is fighting against Russia in Ukraine.
Source: AntiWar.
