[Music] who says you need a bomber or stealth fighter to air launch a Hypersonic missile Boeing just unveiled A New Concept it's developing called the revolver launch system it's made up of two drums loaded with six Hypersonic missiles each the launchers release one missile at a time out of the back of the plane's cargo hold and as the name implies the drums revolve to launch the remaining weapons the revolver launcher is designed to go inside a c17 globe Master 3 also built by Boeing nicknamed Buddha the glob Master is one of the biggest birds in the sky the high-capacity military transport can carry more than 170,000 PBS that makes it more than useful in a number of different missions from Troop deployment to material and vehicle transport and medical Evac Boeing is designing the revolver launcher to carry the X51 a Wave Rider Hypersonic cruise missile The Wave Rider is a joint project between Boeing the Air Force research lab DARPA NASA and pratton Whitney rocket dine it's a test platform that's been in use for years helping industry and the military learn what works and what doesn't when it comes to Hypersonic weapons Russia and China both have Hypersonic weapons so the US is playing a bit of catchup with the tech but the Gap is closed in Ukraine was able to down Russian Hypersonic missiles with us supplied air defense systems China's Hypersonic weapons have never been tested in combat The Wave Rider was successfully launched from a B-52 bomber previously it uses a scramjet engine to compress oxygen in the atmosphere for fuel allowing it to reach speeds of Mach 5 or higher mach5 is five times the speed of sound or just shy of 4,000 mph Boeing's revolver launch system while still in development represents a pretty sizable step forward in the world of military Aviation the ability to launch multiple Hypersonic missiles in quick succession is an obvious benefit for combat commanders and using aircraft already flying means the system can be deployed quickly cargo planes launching weapons out of their hold is not an altogether New Concept the Air Force also has the rapid Dragon program which puts pallets of cruise missiles on cargo planes pallets which are then offloaded at altitude ready to deliver freedom from standoff distances an ac130 can hold multiple six-pack cruise missile configurations a c17 globe Master is big enough for nine pack setups and the rapid Dragon system is equipped with an onboard control module which can be updated with Mission parameters and targets while the plane is Airborne so why is the US trying to figure out ways to launch all sorts of weapons from cargo planes China in this era of great power competition the United States military wants to deter China from trying to take over Taiwan or trade routes in the East and South China Seas so the more daunting and dangerous the US can make that task the more likely China is to fail and hopefully not launch an attack at all we have plenty more reports on high iic weapons and the United States's preparations for great power competition over at s.com or you can download the straight arrow news app today for all of those stories right on your phone for Straight Arrow news I'm Ryan Robertson [Music]