Brings new meaning to ‘warheads on foreheads’. It’s like the Amazon Prime of warfare.

I'm a retired USAF C-130 Crew Chief, as much as we want to take credit for yeeting the parachute out, that's the Loadmasters job. The equipment we maintain lets the Loadmaster yeet the parachute.

I'm a recently retired aerospace engineer/defence contractor who spent his career working cutting edge shit and I will say this: For every crazy idea that comes to fruition (like this), there are 100 more that some genius/nutcase engineer hatched and spent years working on. God bless America.

What a brilliant concept for a weapon system that can use any of a large number of cargo planes without any special modifications. Who ever came up with this definitely needs a raise.

Never thought I'd see the day that a regular C-130 would one up a AC-130. Could you imagine the AAR between the 2 crews? AC-130- " yeah, we leveled a few buildings in such and such town with the 105". C-130 crew- "that's cute, we deleted 45 buildings all over the country in seconds"

Just some corrections: it would be the loadmaster who would deploy Rapid Dragon and a Staff Sergeant (SSgt) in the Air Force is an E-5. However, anyone can become a loadmaster upon initial entry… so an E-3 (A1C) could be responsible for dropping Rapid Dragon out of the cargo plane. So some 18 year old kid straight out of Tech School could be launching his explosive bukkake all over the faces of America’s enemies.

The scariest part about this weapon system is that those pallets can also be equipped with the new LRASM anti ship stealth missiles we are currently using. In other words assuming all of the missiles hit their target and we were to go to war with China tomorrow 3 C-17s with Rapid Dragon could sink half or more of the entire Chinese Fleet in 24 hours. And if we're just talkin the normal JASSM cruise missile rapid Dragon would be the ultimate method for the US to conduct anti SAM operations since they could deploy their cruise missiles with targeting data to strike enemy SAM batteries from standoff ranges where they wouldn't be able to take out our cargo aircraft. This would allow us the ability to destroy an entire enemy frontline's SAM coverage and essentially give us air superiority on a silver platter allowing us to bombard the front line and clean house with just about any opponent that doesn't have a counter to this weapon system. And to be honest if every single cruise missile only costs a million dollars that is extremely cost-effective if it means we can secure constant air superiority. PS. This also means that once we mass-produce this weapon system will double our bomber Fleet overnight forcing the enemy to have to Target every single aircraft we own not just our bombers. Spreading their Air Force thin.

No lie, this is one of the greatest short form videos I’ve ever seen. Engaging, edited well and most of all witty AF. Excellent

This is proof our entire military *gruntwork* system needs a raise, like a big one for doing great work under horrible management.

C-130 to AC-130: "Imagine having to get close to your target."

Crew Chief is the ground mechanic. Load Master (yes that is really their title) would be the one who sets up the parachute to deploy in flight. They also push the button on the panel once the pilot says green light. In the Air Force E-6 is a Technical Sgt and E-5 is a Staff Sgt. Last thing, a large majority of the Load Masters that work these planes are E-4 and below.

I think equally as dangerous is the fact that not only can simple cargo planes act as launching platforms for these middles but there is nothing saying a C17 couldn’t drop a few pallets of the off to soften a target and when it gets a wee bit closer drop a battalion of Rangers to mop up what’s left.

The Power washing business needs its own video.

Ever considered doing an episode on Skunkworks? 'Its not a War Crime the First Time' is essentially their motto.

Sweet man. I was working on this back in the day for C-17s. But some fixes for ya, no, that’s not a crew chief that’s a loadmaster and guess what the median rank for an airdrop loadmaster is? Senior Airman. But don’t worry, the C-17 does that drop itself when it’s set for auto, or the copilot does it in manual (pilot monitoring technically). Good stuff man. I did airdrop testing for S/LRALT back in 04 ish launching the top of a Minuteman II ICBM from 25,000 feet as a test.

This gives a whole new perspective to the 20+ C-17s that fly over charleston sc harbor as a demonstration/training every few years. charleston AFB has absolutely zero issue putting every C-17 they have in the air within minutes

It's getting even better. The AGM-158B-2 variant, also known as the JASSM:XR, has an increased range of 1200 miles. The unit cost increased to 1.5 million per missile but can put warheads on foreheads from over twice as far away. The military will take delivery of the improved missiles next year.

This also plays off of target prioritization of the other side. If you have a limited amount of SAM missiles, are you going to target bombers, fighters, attack aircraft or cargo planes? Normally you'd prioritize the ones known for bad guy to bologna mist technology, not the one bringing MRE's to Forces. This means they second guess every thing the shoot at.

Ironically, this idea was put forth in a science-fiction novel over thirty years ago; The Prince of Sparta by Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling. (Falkenberg's Legion). The missile was called Thor, and they described it as "rolling missiles" (off the ramp). Terminal guidance was supplied by special forces teams.

In 2022 the newest JAASM, designated "XR", started production. It's range is +1000 miles. Daaayum!

The Oprah of missle delivery systems "YOU GET A MISSILE! YOU GET A MISSILE! YOU GET A MISSILE! EVERYONE GETS A MISSILE!!!"

Despite that I am your Russian subscriber, Fat Electrician, i must admit that Uncle Sam’s Arsenal of Democracy capabilities always blowing up my mind God bless you all, who watch this channel,in hope to learn something new about Uncle Sam’s Freedom Delivery Service

David Weber must deserve credit for this. In the Honorverse, the pod launching ships were a turning point. I am sure someone read his books.

The JASSAM-XR has about a 1000 mile range. This thing can hit you from a country and a half over. You would never know that a cargo aircraft deployed that missile.

"Drop shipping freedom!" 🇺🇲

Forklift Certified = Armament Specialist, Crew Chief = Lead Bombardier, Cargo Pilot = Freedom Delivery Officer

The Air Force has also begun a technology feasibility study on blended wing tanker and cargo aircraft, a body plan that is both capable of multiplying the cargo capacity and weight limits of these planes by using lifting bodies, but also one that can be optimized for stealth. So… I guess we can probably expect rapid dragon systems to extend their service life far into the future even as anti-air defenses become more advanced.

As far as I’ve seen, the Achilles heel of stealth aircraft so far seems to be payload. If you look at the F-35 or B-23, they don’t carry that much stuff compared to pre-stealth generations. In an air war, the difficult first step is establishing air dominance, which requires you to eliminate enemy anti air and aircraft. I think we’ll end up pairing cargo aircraft with this system with the extremely stealthy sensor platform that is the F-35 to end enemy integrated air defenses.

Not just cargo planes: every Osprey/VTOL, every heavy-lift copter, anything that can lift the pallet is now a mobile cruise missle silo. 🤩

3:37 can you imagine you are outside on the farm in the mountains sipping, your coffee, admiring your work while taking a break, then all of a sudden a massive piece of steel scaffolding just smashes either into your tractor, house, truck, or even you, from out of nowhere.

I'm imagining a 3 ship cell of C5's max loaded with Imagine Dragon's. 500 miles off the coast and lobbing hundreds of missiles at once about 700 miles into the target state. All the while protected by AWACS and invisible F22s. It's a nightmare for our adversaries. Literally unstoppable devastation.

Just an interesting bit of history; Back in the 70's, after Carter canceled the original B-1A program, the Air Force decided to see if it was possible to launch an ICBM from a C-5. Similar sort of concept to the Rapid Dragon. It was tested and yes.... it did work. But the program was stopped after common sense broke out.

"We will now be deploying cruise missiles by the pallet" *Happy POG noises*

This reminds me of the Honor Harrington series. They had ships designed to carry numerous disposable pods full of missiles. The intent was to create a broadside containing enough missiles to overwhelm the target's electronic countermeasures and point defense. I love it when sci-fi becomes reality.

Everyone says America has no anti ship weapons, but the lrasm which is a stealth cruise missle based on the Jassm meant to sink ships. This fits in rapid dragon and the Navy's Mk41 VLS launchers (each destroyer has 96 VLS cells for missles). Meaning that in the past couple years the US went from no modern anti ship missles to being able to sink any fleet in the world without ever having to shoot a gun or fly a plane

“It’s never a war crime the first time.“ Loved it. lol. Enjoy your content and energy. Keep it up.

New Merch in the merch store!: -"BUH" -keyboard warrior - "Only Doors" Benelli m4 -Coffee Mugs -Flags ALSO I made a mistake. E6 in the USAF is Tech Sgt, not Staff Sgt. it's also a load master yeeting the parachute, not the crew chief. I apologize. I had Army stuck in my head filming, apparently.

Wiley E. Coyote would be so proud. These are some serious ACME rockets!!

0:53 That cut killed me, absolutely hilarious!!!

As an army veteran this is hilarious 🇺🇸 🥂Too the boys in the lab you’ve out done yourselves.

I don't know what's more surprising the fact that this exists, or the fact it's not been tried until now 🤣

The only reason this is less terrifying than it could be is that it has a conventional warhead. I bring up now the W89. Never went into production, but it would have weighed 145 kilograms, well within the JASSM's payload limit, and had a yield of 200 kilotons, or about 10 Nagasakis. The C-17 can carry 45 JASSMs in this Rapid Dragon configuration. Have fun with that.

This reminds me of a book I read a while back.... It had a thing called a NIRTSat (Need It Right This Second), but instead of cruise missiles, it launched surveillance satellites. Reality is more awesome than fiction, though.

I know you LOOOOVE hearing from me. In 1988 NASA played around with huge mylar balloons in Australia. Turns out you can hitch four 158's in a rack under an LDB and let it drift in at 100,000ft from 10 days upwind... and launch maybe 20 of those balloons from a bulk carrier _without anybody ever noticing_ ... lemme know if you need a drywall patch kit. The USS President (1800) had enough room to deploy one of these balloons from between her A and B masts. The USofA can literally deploy stealth cruise missiles by balloon from a sailboat.

Okay. I'm trying to do the math here. 18x missiles per C-130. 45x per C-17, and an unknown, larger number per C-141 or (dear God) C-5. Between Air Force, Navy, and Marines, we have to have over a thousand cargo planes. That adds up to... all the goddamned missiles getting yeeted at some poor bastards.

As a c17 crew chief im an e3 and the flying guys are usually e4-6 so yeah your not wrong, i automatically love my job more now, i may have the back pain of a 50 year old at 19 but bad guy to bologna mist technology brightens my day

Crew chief is ground crew. Load master tosses the pallets out the back. The Loadmaster is part of the aircrew, flies with the plane, and is directly responsible for ensuring cargo loads adhere to established standards. Speaking as someone who was once an active duty airman working on ground crew.

Rapid Dragon - "Look at me! Look at me! I can launch a bunch of cruise missiles from a cargo plane!" Air Mobile Feasibility Demonstration - "Yawn,... Wake me up when the missile you can launch is a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile."

It seems like we are our only competition. Puts a whole new meaning on financial aid 😂😂😂

This should also work for deploying decoys with a strike package as well. Increasing the odds of successful strikes on targets and the exposure of enemy defense radars.

This is literally one of the best most efficient solutions to war I think I have ever seen. The US already has the most advanced logistics network ever cause it’s spent the past 80+ years getting ready to fight on foreign shores. Imagine an opening salvo of tomahawks with refueling craft, cargo planes f35s and escorts. Tankers refuel everyone on approach, cargo drops rapid dragon, as they get to target. Enemy has 2 choices leave radar off and let cruise missiles hit target or turn your radars on and let f-35 direct the LO cruise missiles on your location or launch anti radiation missiles. Brilliant strategy!

What just happened is just too good not to share. I have a specific notification tone for my work email address. While I was listening to this video, just as the cargo plane was opening up the rear hatch and letting the pallet out, my work email tone popped off. Reason why it was so great, is that the notification tone is the following: Starts with the sound of a long snort, followed immediately by someone saying, "God said, he'd teach me karate." Just the right mood for the weapon system.

The Moab walked so that the Rapid Dragon could run

What's even more terrifying is most large commercial airliners can be converted to drop these in smaller portions. Just imagine a whole fleet of domestic flights rolling up and yeeting these out the back door.. Puts a whole new perspective on the name Spirit Airlines.

Your videos are informative and entertaining thanks Jeff

Hey fellow rotund guy... That guy is the 'loadmaster' not the crew chief, and E6 in the USAF is Tsgt, SSgt is E5. You can have AMN and A1C primary loadmasters on C130 and C17s, so E2 and E3s do it. So they are shoving several lifetimes of pay out the ramp. I was Air Cargo, which means I was the guy who drove the K-loaders and pushed the pallets, after building the pallets, on to the planes handing off the cargo to the loadmaster. The things I have shoved into the rear of FRED, C17s, and C141s... the horrors... If a C130 holds three of those, then its the longer version like an L100. Up to the H model they only had 5 pallet positions and that looks like its a little bit shorter than a two pallet train. I've been out nearly 20 years, so they probably updated the C130s, which have been around almost as long as the Buff.

Now offering to unalive our enemies through express delivery.

Another example is during the gulf war when coalition warships launched cruise missiles at Baghdad from the coast and they flew all the way there even with the mountains around them and hit their targets without being shot down nor probably recognized

The two points furthest away from each other in Texas are El Paso and Orange. They are 713 miles apart. Growing up in Texas we had to take Texas History in Jr High. When they would teach about this fact they would use what was called the Great Circle Map. It was a map of the US with two circles on it. Each had a 713 mile radius and one was centered on El Paso and the other was on Orange. It showed how so many other places in the US were closer to El Paso or Orange than they were to each other. From El Paso westward it ended well off the California coast. From El Paso you are MUCH closer to Los Angeles than to Orange. That might help picture just how far these cruise missiles can go.

When you said that a C-17 could drop 45 of those missiles at once, I had to pause the video to grin like a maniac and chuckle to my self while I thought about how completely and utterly f**ked NATO's enemies are. Great video man!

Bad Dragon would have been cooler. Take notes Lockheed

I had to read the title 3 times before I realized it didn't say "New Bad Dragon weapon" lol 😂

That was a very energetic presentation. I found it informative and funny. Thanks for sharing.

cargo planes also typically have the lowest cost per flight hour. this saves a lot of money when you compare fighter and some bomber flight hour costs. the missiles will always cost that much no matter how they are launched

This is the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time. These might be expensive per missile, but how much does it cost per shot yeeted out of a cargo plane compared to loading it onto a separate bomber and deploying it old school? This might even end up being cheaper overall.

New COD callout. "Enemy C-130 taking off."

"It's never a War Crime the First Time." needs to be your next merch, lol nm. Just went to your merch store and it's already there. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

That is the best thing I have seen all day. And those 4 cities where totally random, how could anyone find a correlation between them and the current state of world affairs?

The Jasm aren't just low profile... they're stealth.

AC-130: I have a howitzer, a 40mm cannon, and a minigun. C-130: That's cute. Hold my beer.

"How many strike aircraft do you plan to have?" USA: "All of them."

That would be a loadmaster that yeets them. In the Air Force crew chiefs are on the ground and flying crew chiefs only repair the aircraft

Great video as usual, just some minor corrections. E6 in the Air Force is called a Technical Sergeant. Crew chiefs are maintainers that fly with the plane incase something breaks during a mission, I belive you meant Loadmasters aka pajama-wearing flight stewardesses. Also, one pallet is rated to hold 10, 365 lbs and a C17 can hold 11 pallets in center line configuration or ADS and in LGS 18...that is a lot of hate that can be shot out the back. Lastly, this airframe can also carry up to 150,000 lbs during wartime and with wavers can carry a lot more. Again, Keep it up the great work!

something else to look up which sadly there is not a terrible pile of info on because it never left the concept on paper stage. Boeing once proposed a 747 Cruse Missile carrier, apparently it could carry 72 missiles in the design.

WOW! Costco deliveries sure have come a long way! It's one of the most American things ever. It's clearly been bought in bulk if the serving size is measured in "pallets" and no need to get up, we'll bring it to your face for you. What great service.

2:28 I'm terrified simply wondering just how many of these we could cram onto a C-5 Galaxy.

Yes the best on KZfaq made my day thank you

Dear Christ it's beautiful 😍

A million a pop isn’t bad if the target is a ship. This would certainly be a game changer in the Taiwan Strait. We need to prioritize production of these ASAP!

0:42 well I need a new job then

"buh, you listed the incorrect aircraft, buh" C-130 (the one you said) - 3 pallets x 6 missiles = 18 C-17 - 5 pallets x 9 missiles = 45 besides all of that, love your work, makes me laugh every time

The cost to salary comparison reminded me of the sealant that we use at the water research lab I work at. One sausage tube that fits into the caulk gun cost $15 a pop. We usually get boxes of 20. I make just under $14. We easily use the entire sausage in under a minute when laying down flooring to make the boxes for the dam models we build.

I love how your brain works. I already new what Rapid Dragon was, but just had to hear your version.

"Just f it, we'll just throw them out the back on the way there." Thanks, man. I just woke up the entire household, including my deaf dog.

Now, see, when you said this was a self contained palletized system, my mind immediately went to the C-5.

Modern day C130: "Just like Vietnam!." Fortunate Son playing in the background C130: "You do me proud Grandson!"

E-6 in air force is tech sergeant, but just an fyi which may insult enemies more, is that crew cheif is a job, not a title, so an E-1 can be a crew chief, that means that a kid who graduated basic within that year, as long as he's done with on the job training within that year and i don't know how long that is for crew chiefs, could be the one sending those 45 missiles out of the plane.

“It’s never a war crime the first time” Thank you for understanding us Canadians

This is beautiful. Also do you think you can do a video about the time the Air Force considered making 747s into airborne aircraft carriers?

Seen this before but your explanations are always better and funnier soooo I prefer yours because they are much easier to understand so thank you and keep up with the great videos 🤣🤣👍

Great job on the video! I just found you and I am addicted

Just another accolade for C-130. I've been retired awhile so these are new to me. Very Kick Butt Awesome. Nice to know we still have a few aces up our sleeves.

Could you imagine an AC130 with just 1 of these as it's entrance into the battle field

First time watching anything from you and was laughing for half of it. Loved the commentary and "random" flight paths. What a great video. Cant wait to watch more.

This is an odd comparison but as a Walmart worker it just hits weird that each missile weighs 2200 pounds, that’s near the exact weight of pallets of water, they’re about 2217 pounds if I remember correct, or at least the ones we get the most of are

I love this. It’s so brilliantly simple.

This puts a new meaning to the phrase opening up a can of whoop ass. This is a case worth. Great video and keep up with the great content.🍻

"It's never a war crime the first time" never fails to get me to laugh till I cry

The ground equivalent is essentially… “Hear me out. Instead of the semi trucks delivering the missiles to the launchers, what if we just yeet them directly out the trailer.” The enemy didn’t even need to sign up for Unhealthcare Prime. It’s a service they get for free.