Boeing unveils ‘Revolver’ hypersonic missile launcher

Who says you need a bomber or stealth fighter to air-launch a hypersonic missile? Boeing just unveiled a new concept that it’s developing called the Revolver launch system.

The system is 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 C-17 Globemaster III, also built by Boeing.

Nicknamed "Buddha," — the Globemaster is one of the biggest birds in the sky. The high-capacity military transport can carry more than 170,000 pounds. That makes it more than useful in a number of different missions, from troop deployment to material and vehicle transport and medical evacuations.

Boeing is designing the revolver launcher to carry the X-51A Waverider hypersonic cruise missile. The Waverider is a joint project between Boeing, the Air Force Research Lab, DARPA, NASA, and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

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 U.S. is playing a bit of catch up with the tech but the gap is closing .

Ukraine was able to down Russian hypersonic missiles with U.S.-supplied air defense systems. China's hypersonic weapons have never been tested in combat.

The Waverider 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. Mach 5 is five times the speed of sound, or just shy of 4,000 miles per hour.

Boeing's Revolver hypersonic missile 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 holds isn’t an altogether new concept. The U.S. Air Force also has the Rapid Dragon program, which puts pallets of cruise missiles on cargo planes. Pallets which are then off-loaded at altitude, ready to deliver freedom from standoff distances.

A C-130 can hold multiple 6-pack cruise missile configurations. The C-17 Globemaster is big enough for 9-pack set-ups. The Rapid Dragon system is also equipped with an on-board control module which can be updated with mission parameters and targets while the plane is airborne.

So, why is the U.S. trying to figure out ways to launch all sorts of weapons from cargo planes? China .

In this era of great power competition, the U.S. military wants to deter China from trying to take over Taiwan, or trade routes and fishing grounds in the East and South China Seas . The more daunting and dangerous the U.S. can make that task, the more likely China is to fail, and hopefully, not launch an attack at all.

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