New concept for rapid attacks centres on C-17 transport and Dominator loitering missile under development
A self-described “heretical” US Air Force thinker has outlined a bold proposal for a new way to strike targets in a rapid, “just-in-time” fashion. The solution would involve using large airlifters as strike platforms. Any network-enabled weapon could be used, but the concept is focused on the Dominator loitering missile now under d evelopment by Boeing Phantom Works.
Under the so-called Just-in-Time Strike Augmentation (JITSA) concept, the USAF “can become a service industry. We can just deliver the firepower to the guy who wants to use it,” says Gregory Jenkins, capability architect for the USAF’s Air Armament Center.
Airlifter crews now transporting air-to-ground munitions as cargo to a deployed location would instead deliver the weapons directly on targets, says Jenkins.
One concept would involve loading a Boeing C-17 with 30 pallets of 20 Dominator missiles each, including two weapons serving as “gateway” communications nodes. The Dominator is envisaged as a dispenser for two to eight sub-missiles, says Jenkins. The weapon is expected to loiter for 24h to 42h. It would be equipped with an array of sensors, including acoustic, ladar, synthetic aperture radar, secondary target cueing, and navigation and identification.
The weapons would be airdropped from the C-17 cargo bay. Each missile would then cruise to the target area and begin searching for targets, loitering up to 42hr over the battle area as an on-call strike asset for pop-up targets. A target could be engaged within 2-4min, says Jenkins.
Using C-17s or other airlifters as a roll-on/roll-off delivery platform is attractive as a cost-saving approach, Jenkins adds. “What happened to integrating [network-enabled missiles] on fighters and bombers? Well, if you want to pay for it, go ahead,” he says.
Jenkins’ briefing cites the C-17 and Dominator specifically, but he emphasises the concept could be adapted to any airlifter or network-enabled weapon. The capability exists today to install a basic version of the concept on airlifters, he says, but without the long-loitering capability.
Jenkins is publicly championing the JITSA concept while he is pushing the proposal through the Air Combat Command (ACC). He says there is interest at ACC, but no funding has been approved for a demonstration programme.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE/LAUREL,MARYLAND
Source: Flight International
