US Air Force to arm C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft with FAMM-P cruise missiles to supplement bomber missions.

The U.S. Air Force will field pallet-launched cruise missiles aboard C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft in 2027 under the Dragon Cart acquisition program, following confirmations from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach and Air Mobility Command commander Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley. Building on Rapid Dragon trials that demonstrated airborne AGM-158 JASSM releases, the initiative equips existing airlifters with roll-on, roll-off Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) modules to expand long-range strike capacity without purchasing additional bombers or permanently modifying aircraft. Backed by a five-year, $12.6 billion projection for 28,000 missiles and industrial agreements with Anduril Industries, CoAspire, and Zone 5 Technologies, the effort scales both launcher availability and high-rate munition production.

Using C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft to launch palletized cruise missiles could increase U.S. long-range strike capacity without acquiring additional bombers, enable multiple missiles to be launched from a single aircraft, and distribute strike capability across more airfields. (Picture source: US DoD)

Key tactical insights

• The U.S. Air Force is preparing to deploy cruise missiles from C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft using palletized airdrop systems, with operational fielding planned for 2027, by relying on a roll-on, roll-off deployment system known as Dragon Cart (developed from the Air Force Research Laboratory's Rapid Dragon experiments).

• Acquisition & Budget: Established on April 1, 2026, following six years of Rapid Dragon experiments, the program is backed by a FY 2027 budget request of $355 million for an initial 1,000 FAMM weapons. Five-year projections outline $12.6 billion for 28,000 missiles across palletized (FAMM-P) and aircraft-mounted (FAMM-L) variants, with an annual procurement ceiling of 8,000 units.

• Missile Specifications: The baseline FAMM-P requirement combines a range exceeding 500 nautical miles (926 km) with a 100-lb (45.4-kg) warhead and a $218,000 recurring unit-cost objective—roughly one-tenth the warhead mass and cost of the $2.6 million AGM-158 JASSM.

• Industrial Base: On July 15, 2026, the Pentagon announced seven-year framework agreements with Anduril Industries (Barracuda-500M), CoAspire (Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile), and Zone 5 Technologies (Rusty Dagger) to scale high-rate manufacturing.

On November 8, 2026, Air & Space Forces revealed that U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach and Air Mobility Command commander Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley confirmed plans to equip C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft with pallet-launched cruise missiles in 2027, expanding the number of U.S. aircraft capable of conducting conventional long-range strikes without purchasing additional bombers. The capability will enter service through Dragon Cart, established as an acquisition program on April 1, 2026, following six years of Rapid Dragon experiments. The fiscal year 2027 budget requests $355 million for 1,000 Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMMs), while five-year projections cover 28,000 weapons costing $12.6 billion across both palletized FAMM-P and aircraft-mounted FAMM-L variants.

These figures would represent $355,000 per missile in the initial request and $450,000 over five years, compared with a $218,000 recurring unit-cost objective and $2.6 million for the latest AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). The July 15, 2026 industrial agreements with Anduril Industries, CoAspire, and Zone 5 Technologies also establish a potential procurement ceiling of 8,000 FAMM missiles annually across both variants. The plan consequently addresses two separate requirements: increasing the number of aircraft able to launch cruise missiles and establishing a manufacturing capacity sufficient to sustain their expenditure. The C-17's maximum payload capacity of 77,519 kg is 3.88 times the C-130J's 19,958 kg, allowing substantially different missile loads despite both aircraft using rear-ramp extraction.

Related topic: Airbus develops new A400M Mothership variant to launch 12 Taurus missiles or 50 drones for long-range strikes

The C-17's cargo compartment measures 26.8 × 5.49 × 3.76 m, compared with a 12.5-m cargo floor on the C-130J, excluding the ramp, while their propulsion systems comprise four 40,440-lbf Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 turbofans and four 4,637-shp Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 turboprops, respectively. Earlier Rapid Dragon configurations envisaged five nine-missile modules aboard the C-17 and two six-missile modules aboard the C-130, equivalent to theoretical loads of 45 and 12 cruise missiles per transport aircraft. However, these figures do not establish certified FAMM-P loads, since module dimensions, missile mass, cargo-floor limits, center-of-gravity restrictions, and extraction equipment would determine actual capacity.

How affordable FAMM missiles could expand the C-17's long-range strike capacity

The C-17 can carry 72,575 kg over 4,448 km without refueling, while the C-130 offers access to smaller operating locations, creating a trade-off between missile volume per sortie and the number of possible launch locations. The FAMM-P's baseline requirement combines a range exceeding 500 nautical miles (926 km) with a 100-lb (45.4-kg) warhead, one-tenth the nominal mass of the JASSM's warhead. At $218,000 per missile, ten FAMMs would cost $2.18 million and carry 454 kg of combined warhead mass, compared with $2.6 million for one JASSM concentrating that explosive mass against a single target. The smaller weapon therefore offers a different allocation of destructive effects, not an equivalent replacement for JASSMs against hardened structures. At the same time, no validated probability-of-kill figures establish how many FAMMs would be required against protected shelters or reinforced facilities.

The FAMM-P Beyond Adversary's Reach (BAR) effort extends the missile's range objective beyond 1,000 nautical miles (1,852 km), adding 926 km of nominal reach over the baseline threshold. BAR also requires engagement of slow-moving maritime targets, midcourse updates under GNSS-denied conditions, beyond-line-of-sight connectivity, and secure communications with the Navy Dahlgren Battle Management System. However, following an April 17, 2026 request for information and May 6 industry day, the specific BAR risk-reduction solicitation was canceled on September 11, leaving the extended-range configuration and its qualification unresolved. Industrial capacity is equally important because Dragon Cart can only increase the number of weapons launched if FAMM manufacturing produces sufficient missiles to support repeated sorties. Therefore, the industrial arrangements announced on July 15, 2026 cover seven years and involve Anduril's Barracuda-500M, CoAspire's Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile, and Zone 5 Technologies' Rusty Dagger.

How U.S. missile production plans could support large-scale palletized strikes

Anduril already completed a pallet-launched Barracuda-500M flight in September 2024, followed by tests of collaborative autonomy, terminal engagements, and payload performance. Moreover, more than 90% of Barracuda components are common across variants, and four turbojet engines have been integrated, reducing dependence on one propulsion supplier. Anduril also invested over $40 million in a 115,000-square-foot Southern California facility and planned additional manufacturing at Arsenal-1, its nearly $1 billion, 5 million-square-foot complex in Ohio. The FY 2027 funding includes $300 million in mandatory procurement funding and $55 million in discretionary funding associated with extended-range development. Planned procurement then reaches 5,300 missiles in FY 2028, 5,920 in FY 2029, 7,700 in FY 2030, and 7,990 in FY 2031, across the FAMM family. These quantities do not establish how many palletized weapons will be available, and the framework agreements remain distinct from completed missile orders and operational certification. 

Dragon Cart follows more than five decades of weapon-release experiments from transport aircraft, beginning with the C-130's employment of the BLU-82/B bomb in Vietnam on March 23, 1970, using parachute extraction to release a weapon containing 5,715 kg of explosive filling. On October 24, 1974, a C-5A Galaxy, the 69-0014, released a 39-tonne modified Minuteman I missile from 6,096 m over the Pacific, demonstrating parachute stabilization and rocket ignition after separation, although airborne strategic missile basing was never adopted. C-17 experiments subsequently released an unpowered extended Medium Range Ballistic Missile target from 7,620 m over Yuma in May 2013 and a live target over the Pacific on October 31, 2015, supporting missile-defense testing. Rapid Dragon, for its part, began in December 2019, conducted jettison and separation trials in 2021, and achieved a powered AGM-158 launch from an MC-130J at Eglin on December 16, 2021, using one live missile and three ballast rounds in a four-cell module.

From Rapid Dragon to Dragon Cart - how cargo aircraft became missile launchers

Another MC-130J launched an AGM-158B JASSM-ER at Norway's Andøya range on November 9, 2022, while a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130 participated in heterogeneous-payload experiments in April 2023. Dragon Cart was then transferred to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Combat Readiness Directorate on April 1, 2026, adopting government-owned battle management interfaces and Model-Based Systems Engineering under a rapid-fielding acquisition pathway. This architecture permits module changes without permanent aircraft conversion, but the FAMM-P still requires its own separation, guidance, communications, and weapons-release qualification. Comparable initiatives are developing internationally, although aircraft payload capacity does not establish missile-launch certification.

Japan is pursuing a transport-compatible standoff missile system, as its Kawasaki C-2 offers a 15.7 × 4 × 4-m cargo compartment and payload-range combinations of 36 tonnes over 4,500 km, 30 tonnes over 5,700 km, or 20 tonnes over 7,600 km. During ATREUS 22-4 in November 2022, Polish C-130 crews practiced palletized weapon handling at Powidz, but the associated live AGM-158B launch occurred aboard an American MC-130J in Norway. Airbus, for its part, unveiled an A400M concept in April 2026 involving up to 12 Taurus KEPD 350-class missiles or 50 drones, followed by a June 16 contract for France's Parallel Mission System, incorporating removable consoles, sensors, communications, and weapon-control interfaces. France intends to modify 20 A400Ms and acquire six mission kits, with installation beginning in 2027 and qualification planned for 2028. Embraer and Anduril also agreed on July 21, 2026, to examine the integration of the Barracuda-500M aboard the C-390 Millennium.

How palletized missiles could affect U.S. airlift capacity and ammunition stocks

The decisive constraint across these programs remains the relationship between missile expenditure, aircraft turnaround, and the airlift capacity sacrificed for each strike mission. For instance, during the 39 days of Operation Epic Fury against Iran, U.S. forces expended an estimated 1,100 JASSMs from a prewar inventory of 4,400, consuming 25% of that stock at an average of 28.2 missiles daily. Delivering an equivalent numerical quantity under the FAMM program would require 123 transport sorties at nine missiles per aircraft or 184 at six, without accounting for differences in warhead effects.

Ten transports carrying nine missiles each could release 90 weapons per sortie cycle, equivalent to 90 daily with 24-hour turnaround, 45 with 48 hours, or 30 with 72 hours. The projected five-year FAMM procurement average of 5,600 missiles annually equals 15.3 daily, so one 90-missile salvo would consume 5.9 days of average procurement; even the 8,000-missile annual ceiling equals only 21.9 weapons daily across both variants. Assigning ten C-17s to strike operations would simultaneously remove up to 775 tonnes of nominal cargo capacity per sortie cycle, or 2,325 tonnes across three otherwise achievable transport missions.

Longer missions could additionally consume tanker sorties, maintenance capacity, crews, and recovery-airfield resources, while five FAMMs costing $1.09 million or ten costing $2.18 million would not necessarily reproduce the target effects of one JASSM. The relevant comparison is therefore the number and type of targets successfully engaged per missile-launch sortie against the fuel, ammunition, personnel, and replacement equipment that the same aircraft could otherwise deliver to sustain combat operations.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.