Palletized weapon live fire test

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – The Air Force Rapid Dragon Program successfully completed its final flight test Dec. 16 at the Eglin Overwater Test Range. The test capped a two-year series and culminated in a live fire of a current inventory cruise missile armed with a live warhead. Rapid Dragon demonstrates the ability to employ weapons using standard airdrop procedures from cargo aircraft using the Rapid Dragon Palletized Weapon System. The Dragon program name is derived from a 1,000-year-old Chinese military designed crossbow catapult that launched multiple crossbow bolts with the pull of a single trigger. This modern airborne delivery system also unleashes salvos en masse on distant adversaries. During the test, an MC-130J flown by an Air Force Special Operations Command operational flight crew, received new targeting data while in flight which was then routed to the cruise missile flight test vehicle. Once inside the drop zone over the Gulf of Mexico, the MC-130J aircrew airdropped a four-cell Rapid Dragon deployment system containing the FTV and three mass simulants, which were sequentially released from the palletized deployment box while under parachute. Safe separation from the deployment box and weapon deconfliction was demonstrated using an unconventional deployment method (nose-down vertical orientation). Immediately after the vertical release, the FTV deployed its wings and tail, achieved aerodynamic control, ignited its engine, performed a powered pull-up maneuver, and proceeded toward its newly assigned target. The cruise missile successfully destroyed its target upon impact. (Source: Air Force Research Laboratory Public Affairs, 12/16/21)