The Mojave desert might be the answer.
Active work is being done to also destroy the Chinese air defense system in the MALD program, with the ADM-160 MALD program. Ingenious, and cost effective.
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/adm-160-mald-americas-secret-weapon-to-engage-air-defenses-isnt-a-weapon-at-all/
I hate China.
I love Chinese food and Chinese women but I hate China.
The USAF successfully launched a Minuteman ICBM from a C-5 Galaxy cargo plane.
The Mojave desert might be the answer.
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Using 747s at cruise missile carriers is not a new concept. It was first proposed as an alternative to the B-1 bomber.
http://www.boeing-747.com/special_boeing_747s/747_cmca_-_cruise_missile_carrier.phpThis variant was considered by the U.S. Air Force as a Cruise Missile Carrier Aircraft during the development of the B-1 Lancer strategic bomber. It would have been equipped with 50 to 100 AGM-86 ALCM cruise missiles on rotary launchers. This plan was abandoned in favor of more conventional strategic bombers.
However, you can't just take a civilian 747 airliner and put cruise missiles in it. There is a lot of specialized modification that have to be done to the aircraft to carry and launch cruise missiles from rotary launcher modules.
A cloud of cheap BBs and an expensive high speed missile won’t get along.
Is Oceania about to go to war with East Asia?
Hope I’m joking.
Good thing the Russians and Chinese aren’t thinking of doing the same thing.
A sheet of aluminum can be stamped into a small boat.
Small boats transported Allied troops from Dunkirk to Great Britain.
It also means that it would behoove any enemy to take out every civilian airliner and cargo plane at the start of a conflict. Occupied or not.
I’m all for the US having a military capability, but, isn’t a “missile-packed arsenal ship” sort of like a “baby-killing fully semi-automatic bullet-spraying assault rifle glock derringer shotgun with a shoulder thing that goes up”?
That really is just what the world has needed. Something to make every airliner a target. This is their best idea since they thought about putting conventional bombs on ICBMs.
They really have lost their minds. By the way, we need around 30 trillion dollars before we can call ourselves “broke”.
That was interesting. Thanks!
Almost 50 years ago, the USAF launched a full sized ICBM from a cargo aircraft.
Video at link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96A0wb1Ov9k
I personally prefer Zepplins as missle carriers.
I don’t believe we can meet our climate targets if we add a fleet of 747s to our air force arsenal.
So this idea is dead on arrival.
From the headline I was imagining fleets of FedEx, UPS, and DHL jets flying bombing runs over China ...
Say some old long range hyper-sonic Phoenix missiles leftover from the F-14 program.
Loose lips sink ships