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Naming a new weapon after a historical one from an adversary is likely to be used on is peak American.

British: Who measures nuclear bombs by the pallet? USA: Me.

Just for point of reference 288 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. 10 dedicated C-17s can launch 450 AGM-158s. They could theoretically use something like 50 cargo planes to launch well over a thousand of these within minutes completely overwhelming and destroying any and all air defenses a hostile nation may have. In a near peer fight this system is practically an "I win" button.

Enemy: Hah! It is only a C130 😂 C130: *Begins pooping pallets of missiles*

Really making the PLA go from "Hah! It's just a C17!" to "Fuck! IT'S A C-17!"

Rapid Dragon is unironically the US’ most promising development to ensure the protection of Taiwan. We aren’t building enough submarines, destroyers, bombers, or fighters to pick up the slack.

"Hey gary what cargo did we just drop again" "MRE's for the ground assets bob why" "Gary why are those MRE's exploding"

The other reason why they canceled the 747 idea was that it was felt that weaponizing civilian type aircraft might have a negative effect on commercial air travel. Korean Airlines 747 was shot down in 1983 by the soviets and it kind of spooked everyone.

Trebuchet, Fire arrows, Crossbow, axes and Rapid Dragon . Nostalgia arc of the miliary is now in full swing.

The C-130 is an awesome platform. Still flying 60+ years later. This weapon is perfect for C-130s.

I love at the end he shows a logistics truck that was used as the base for a HIMARS while saying "Maybe someday they will figure out how to turn a logi truck into a missile system"

People don’t realize the real power behind the US military is the pallet. Absolutely everything they use can be palletized stacked and shipped then unpacked in extremely efficient and effective manner. The logistics behind of their operations is literally mind boggling. No one can even compare to that capability.

11:00 "Because they can't just write off a C-130 as a non threat, like they normally do" C-130 Gunship: Am I a joke to you?

Dragons Breath has a whole new meaning now

Those cruise missles have the ability to fly low and hug the terrain, and that complicates anti-missle battery tracking. Also the s300 and s400 missles are not designed for low altitude counter missle applications, add the stealth signature the size of a walnut exponentially increase the ability for rapid dragon to have a 95% hit probability.

WW1-2: "Hey, our enemies have dumped their supply pallets on us! Sweet." WW3: "Oh no, Supply pallets!"

The Air Force seems to love turning cargo planes into portable armageddon; we had the AC-130, now we have this flying democracy delivery system 😂

Weaponized logistics pallets? SOMEONE CALL RYAN!

You should have interviewed Gurler Ari and asked him how he got the idea

Now, remember that Vietnam-era experiment where the Navy launched and landed C130s from a carrier?... Your move, China.

You weren't kidding about the ASVAB scores. When I was signing up with the Air Force recruiter in Hannibal, Missouri, there was another guy talking to another Air Force recruiter in the same office. I couldn't hear their conversation, but the young recruit started to cry. The recruiter puts his arm around him and walked him out the office and down the hall. After an hour passed, I see the recruit again and he's high fiving everyone and has a huge grin on his face. When I left the Air Force office I looked down the same hallway the young recruit came from. The office said US Army. His ASVAB scores weren't high enough to get into the Air Force but the Army took him.

I love Rapid Dragon because it means that a casual Cargo Aircraft can carry enough Cruise Missiles to make any Adversary VERY nervous about any Cargo Aircraft anywhere near them. And by "Anywhere near them" I mean within 1,000 miles

10:21 y'all say that's a b-1 takeoff, but that's a B-2 spirit.

"...mentally ill in the best way possible..." absolutely priceless. Cappy you're a G

Imagine when next, each one drops and deploys 10,000 AI piloted drones with a 20lb explosive each

We do have a 747 with a giant chemical laser too! My family member was a senior engineer on the ABL(AIR BOURNE LASER) that is still in our inventory and very capable!

Lebanon Regional: "UPS 242 Heavy, what's that coming out of your aircraft?" 242 Heavy: "Just a local delivery."

Did I hear Mrs Cappy clanking dishes around 11:30 lol

DARPA: sometimes my own genius frightens me

Literally a cargo plane-sized MIRV

This went in the opposite direction than I expected. I imagined a missile that would deliver supplies to troops in the field.

Funny thing is that I actually have been thinking about a system like that for years. A bomber is only useful during war but a cargo plane is useful all the time, so by giving cargo planes that capability not only would you increase your vectors of ordnance delivery available, you would do it for way cheaper. Take a plane like the Embraer C-390 Millennium, pair it up with something like an E-8 or E-3 Sentry for long range target guidance and you could dominate huge areas.

As for logistic trucks being converted into missile trucks, we've already seen Brimstones being launched from a van.

Imagine the entire concept started because a bunch of Engineers, a couple of pilots and loadmasters started talking at a bar over drinks and somebody came up with the crazy idea with this as the end result

10:55 I was getting ready to make this point. As there are many allies who could utilize their cargo fleet to deliver this ordinance. I'm glad you made it.

My God this channel is something! With all the horrible things going on, your humor and deep insight makes it so much easier to digest. You are a top-tier presenter, as good as anyone on any news network.

3:39 using "thrust" with that on screen is.. strategic language. Your editing Easter eggs don't go unnoticed lol

There's something to be said for the concept of sending up 4 C-17s, 2 loaded with basically inert, cheap and fake cruise missiles and the other 2 loaded with full boogie murder missiles. Swarming air defense just got a lot easier.

13:42 I like how the palette has the capability of dragging the chute out of the plane. Amazing piece of hdw

As someone who’s been reading Honor Harrington novels for decades, it’s nice to see the military catching up to the concept of “Roll Pods!” and having the enemy shit itself.

Please keep making weapon systems' metaphors for/with different foods items. Makes me laugh my ass off every time.

Bro, your videos are gold.

I didn't know it was named after an ancient siege weapon from China, of all places...But on a more important note; Con Air is one of the few Nic Cage movies that are not only watchable, but actually good. The Rock and Gone in 60 seconds are even better in my opinion.

0:42 The blu-82 bombs had the most badass nickname: Daisy Cutters.

And Uncle Sam said: "LET THERE BE A BIG BOOM!!"

As an aerial porter whos even worked in some of the places in this video and had hands on with some of this stuff, its so cool seeing you talk about this it and i freaking loved this video 😁

At most companies - there is an unwritten - but absolute and unavoidable rule: When you are good at something and show you are responsible, hard-working and a high achiever, the reward for your great work and effort is often - more work...

A college buddy of mine worked on one of those inertial guidance systems. The goal was accuracy of three feet at one thousand miles. They achieved an accuracy of three _inches_ at _ten_ thousand miles. In his words, "They wanted us to be able to hit a car from a thousand miles away, and we gave them the ability to hit a guy in the nuts from halfway around the world." Of course, real-world accuracy isn't that good...yet. At least, not according to public records.

That 747 is exactly the plane I'd most like to visit my family with;-)

Can we Kickstarter "Alt Air: Con Air 2" starring Chris Cappy? I heard Cage finally paid his debts off so maybe an EP credit.

Liking the OCP T - “part infantry, part KZfaq, dead or alive, you’re subscribing to me” 😂

Military cargo planes for ground support goes back even earlier with the Puff the Magic Dragon concept which started with some C-47's and old DC-3's.

Now, put it in orbit

Great video as always, I have finally caught up and watched every video on your main channel…go me 🙃 Now feel I’m a true member of the spare parts army 😁

The US has such staggering logistics we fed our boys in the Pacific theater ice cream, and Rapid Dragon completely cuts out the middle man making the supply chain even shorter

Good work Paul thank you. Though I’ve known about this for sometime your video managed to give me some new information which is hard to come by. thank you for your service and for the entertainment.

Having your boss say "here's a totally separate full-time job to do on-top of your existing full-time job, no raise" is pretty much just daily life in the oligopolistic corporatist hellscape that is modern America.

10:25 for those who think he doesnt butcher every name on purpose - this is freedom name. Very clever cover for someone in international setting and variety of pronunciations, you can always say it was a joke even if you really have no clue how to pronounce it.

Designed for military cargo planes. In a WW3 scenario 747 etc will be used. Plenty of troops were moved to Desert Storm in those. That will free up rapid dragon space. Also plenty of cargo civilian planes are available. So not so much of a problem if mobilised

So, there is one key issue at play here. Cargo planes are absurdly vulnerable. They have next to no maneuver capability are rarely carry EW systems to protect themselves. Yea they often have flares, but thats useless against long range missiles anyway. The ONLY change these planes have is if they can stay well out of range of enemy air defenses. As Chappie said, this tactic is also based on saturation attacks where you overwhelm enemy air defenses. There are two missiles being considered here. The first is the AGM-158 ER, and the AGM-158 XR. Thats extended range vs extreme range. The extended range and extreme range. The ER version is the one where the cargo plane can carry up to 45 per salvo. The XR version is much larger and the plane wouldnt be able to carry nearly as many (though it does have twice the warhead). The ER version has good range, but also well within the effective operational range of the S500. Meaning it should get shot down before it can launch it missiles. The XR does outrange the S500 quite comfortably, but unless you bring several cargo planes you cant do saturation strikes in nearly the same way. In general, this is an interesting idea, and maybe it can work. But just know that cargo planes are absurdly vulnerable to air defenses unless kept far from the front lines. Also, this doesnt take into account any enemy fighters.

8:30 WHAT?!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂

Every time the video showed the cargo area on a C130, I could smell it. My dad was an avionics tech in the AK Air National Guard, and worked on Hercs for his whole career. So I grew up around them, and then when I joined the Army, it felt like they were the airlift of choice. lol. I love that damned plane.

US MIlitary in the 2000s: Nah man we don't have to fire 45 cruise missiles at a dude with an AK... at one time.

Thanks for sharing Cappy

7000 JASSM's in the US inventory strikes me as quite impressive. Congratulations America you developed a system to help with spamming your JASSM all over the enemy

AGM158 Gives me a huge OrJASSM.

"Pallet of cruise missiles" is not a combination of words I ever expected to hear.

"Be advised, Swarm inbound"

Sounds really stupid honestly, when the enemy eventually shoots down a civilian airliner you got no one to blame but yourself

Love your delivery. Great video

Air Force Dropped the ball on this one. Should've named it "Flaming Dragon" Tropic Thunder Style

I liked my own comment.

One 1 view. Bro fell off.

Build more C130s. We could use the capacity. Plus they can handle landing in "rough" areas, allowing Rapid Dragon packages to be disbursed to more locations than a near peer can saturate with their own cruise missiles.

this is actually such a frighteningly feasible idea that i cant imagine it wont become a standard practice. The amount of precise destruction this would allow is absurd.

This is actually soothing in context.

We already have F/A 18, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get C/B 130 soon.

As for the quip at the end about logistics trucks; I'd say go one further and figure out how to turn port-a-potties into air defense nodes (the phrasing is a joke but the concept isn't). Build a short/med-range, fast-response, low-cost-per-target air defense system (think iron dome, but intended to engage nation state built (G)MLRS type threats) where the deployment and ground infrastructure for the munitions are comparable to a port-a-potty; just set it down on some more or less flat ground and send up fuel truck around every few days to pump some fluids over. Ideally it would even look like something that costs about as much as a port-a-potty so you can deploy a crap ton (pardon the pub) decoys.

Glad to have been a part (small) of the A.F.

i'm not a military guy at all but you are one of favorite youtube channels. Great work Chris!

Great content as per the usual. SUPER sweet OCP shirt too!

China: We will deny you access to Taiwan and the surrounding area when we war with Taiwan. America: You should have learned from Russia. [a few moments later] America: Allow me to introduce you to the Rapid Dragon system and our hypersonic revolver.

"insane in the best way possible" best line ever.

I applaud you for illustrating the Danger Zone.

Naming this thing Rapid Dragon is such a flex.

14:18 To quote Riddick: "...and the worst mistake you made? Empty gun rack."

Very cool, thanks for update, very important information increasing knowledge 😊👍

There was a paper being circulated on pallets of rods with gps guidance and deployable fins to cave in rooves of insurgent holdings. It had the greatest pictures.

9 atacms missiles can fit in a standard 20 foot shipping container with a gap of a foot on each side

"Why does thing make me want to hooah all over the place" 😂😂 That's Army as hell!

Ok, we nailed the logistics of how to get the missile from the factory to the target as quickly as possible. Now we just need to work on the logistics of BUILDING THE MISSILES.

This feels like the best weapon for a AC130 gun ship,it could kill any anti air in the are so it can help people on the ground or just blow anything too heavy to pen with its guns

I'd bet a lot of money the B1 is about to get a serious upgrade. That rotary system looks very similar, and the B1 flies a hell of a lot faster.

45 cruise missiles being deployed from a single cargo plane is pretty crazy to think of. You'd need some pretty advanced and dense air defences to survive an attack.

Love the OCP t-shirt Chris! Keep on rocking it!

Use to fly the C5A Galaxy to Hickam and Travis, cost for a hop flight was $10.00 each way in 82.

It means that every us cargo plane is now clear for shoot dowm

0:02 ...in the best way possible...lol

Almost had it. Yes, the C-17 is bigger. But more capable? Nah. When the last C-17 goes to the boneyard, a 130 will be there to fly the crew home. But this was actually a rather popular topic in the 130 community in the early 2000's. There were all kinds of wild... let's call them "ideas" at the time. A C-130 with floats (No idea who came up with this gem) and even an idea to put a giant rotor on top to make them VTOL. Two I remember. The first was basically this. Have missile launchers on pallets to be dropped. But at the time it was either Tomahawks or smaller ones like Hellfires. The other was a drone tank that could be airdropped and basically threw the missiles at enemy tanks. The drawings they had for it were awesome. Just yeet and boom.