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Carrier command 2 cruise missile5/30/2023 ![]() ![]() Each launcher would be equipped with 8 JASSM-sized cruise missiles, for a total of 152 missiles per aircraft – nearly the loadout of an Ohio-class SSGN. Much like the current work being done by Israel Aerospace Industry (IAI) to convert 777-300ERs to their Special Freighter configuration, a 777-300ER converted to the CMCA configuration with an MPRL-compatible side cargo door would allow for a line of 10 rotary launchers, two wide, minus a one-MPRL gap space, for a sum total of 19 launchers per aircraft. The two-engine long-fuselage 777-300ER is the leading candidate for a robust and cost-effective modern CMCA for low-threat standoff-range missile launching. All have a fuselage diameter that allows for an internal racetrack for rotary launchers and can accommodate two launchers side by side. bomber designs and would need minimal modifications beyond those required to turn the aircraft into a specialized freighter and equipping it with modern military communications gear. Thus, a more relevant aircraft/launcher combination is needed.Ĭonveniently, a large number of wide-body commercial aircraft are starting to hit the used aircraft market, especially 777-300s, 747-400Fs, and even a few relatively new 747-8Fs, all at a fraction of their original cost. Additionally, there is much more of a need to launch smaller and more numerous tactical weapons from a shorter (180 inch-long) conventional weapon rotary launcher like the Multi-Purpose Rotary Launcher (MPRL) than there is to launch larger nuclear-tipped missiles from the much longer (265 inch-long) Common Strategic Rotary Launcher used in the earlier 747-200 CMCA. However, in today’s world, the 747-200 has largely been removed from service worldwide. While not selected for production, the innovative concept showed an early way forward for a cost-effective “arsenal aircraft.” Unlike dedicated bombers, the 747 CMCA could blend in with commercial air traffic and leverage the 747’s robust international commercial logistics network for lower-cost operations while also bringing a robust secondary cargo-carrying capability. Loaded through the hinged nose door, the rotary launchers circled around an internal racetrack, ejecting missiles out of a new mission-specific door in the rear starboard side of the cargo deck before moving out of the way and making room for a new rotary launcher. Each launcher carried eight AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs) for a total of 72 ALCMs per aircraft. The 747 CMCA had a freighter-like configuration and was equipped with nine internal rotary launchers. ![]() ![]() In the late 1970s, after President Carter canceled the B-1A bomber, Boeing offered a cruise missile-launching 747-200C known as the Cruise Missile Carrier Aircraft – CMCA. ![]() For the Navy, these retiring platforms represent approximately half of the VLS cells in the current fleet inventory.Ī concept from the past offers a unique, cost-effective opportunity to help mitigate these losses. While the impact of the loss of these platforms is being mitigated to some extent by new construction of smaller and less capable Block 3 Arleigh Burke-class DDGs, Constitution-class guided-missile frigates (FFG-62s), and stretched Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast attack submarines (SSN-774s), it is nonetheless numerically profound in the near term. Navy is facing a looming crisis with the approaching retirement of 22 Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers (CG-47s) with 122 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells, 28 Block 1 and 2 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG-51s) with 96 cells, and four Ohio-class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines (SSGN-726s) with 154 cells each. Air Force recently completed the retirement of 17 B-1B bombers, equipped with three rotary launchers, each capable of carrying eight Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) cruise missiles. military is being forced to retire large-capacity strike platforms. Air Force are dealing with a critical weakness the looming retirement of a large percentage of their most capable conventional missile-launching strike platforms. As China continues to produce ships, missiles, and other weapons systems at rates unseen in the West since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Today, the United States and its allies face a Chinese adversary growing in military and economic power. ![]()
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