The U.S. Air Force is considering a pitch by a defense contractor to deploy armed drones in shipping containers.

The drones, XQ-58 Valkyries, are short takeoff drones with performance nearing that of a fighter jet.

In the event of war the Air Force could launch swarms of drones from the containers to overwhelm an enemy.

The U.S. Air Force wants the ability to deploy hundreds of drones across a future theater of war, storing them in shipping containers until the moment they are needed. Drone maker Kratos Defense is proposing inserting its new XQ-58A Valkyrie drone in a modified shipping container, which would then be shipped or flown to small islands in the Pacific. In the event of war, the drones could be quickly readied for action, flying long range missions deep into enemy territory while armed with precision guided bombs and air-to-air missiles.

Wikipedia Wikimedia Commons

The concept, proposed by Kratos Defense, calls for fitting a XQ-58A Valkyrie into a standard sized shipping container. The XQ-58A is considered “runway independent”, meaning it does not need long runways for takeoffs and landings. Kratos has long built target drones that are launched from a short, skyward-pointed rail, using rocket boosters to get airborne. Once in the air, the drone’s turbofan engine takes over and the drone goes on its way.

Kratos thinks the XQ-58A, rocket boosters, and launcher rail could all fit inside a shipping container. In the event of a crisis with China, the Air Force could deploy the shipping containers to small islands in the Pacific, either by ship or C-130J Super Hercules transport. A small number of Air Force personnel would also deploy with the containers.

GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb with wings extended. U.S. Air Force via Wikipedia

The XQ-58A Valkyrie is one of a new generation of drones with near-fighter jet capabilities. The drone is 30 feet long with a 27 foot wingspan, has a top speed of Mach .95, and can carry up to two 250 pound GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs .

If war starts, it would take the airmen a “very small number of hours,” according to a Kratos official quoted at Flightglobal , to prepare the drone for action. The airmen could load the drone with a pair of GBU-39s or even small air-to-air missiles, attach the wings (the drone won’t fit in the shipping container with wings attached), and wait for the signal to fire. The process would be repeated at secret locations throughout the region, with scores or even hundreds of drones made ready to fight.

One of the XQ-58A’s best features is its 3,000 nautical-mile range. Valkyries stored on the U.S. territory of Guam, for example, could easily reach Hong Kong, Shanghai, and even Beijing. Drones stored even closer to China could range even deeper into the country. Meanwhile, U.S. aircraft carriers, land attack cruise missiles, and strategic bombers would conduct attacks on Chinese military targets. The XQ-58A’s long range means that in any future war Chinese military leaders would face the prospect of not only fighting in the Pacific but also protecting Chinese airspace from armed, long range drones.

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The Air Force, as Flightglobal points out, appears interested in the concept. The site notes General C.Q. Brown, recently nominated to be the next head of the Air Force, said in 2019, “If a 20-foot container can actually contain some type of weapon system and I have 1,000 20-foot containers spread throughout the region, as an adversary, which one is the one that actually has the capability? Which one is just empty?”

The Kratos drone container concept is pretty cheap: each drone is projected to cost just $2-3 million, with the shipping container/launcher costing an eighth to a tenth of that. By comparison, a F-35A Joint Strike Fighter costs about $90 million. As retired Marine Corps Colonel T.X. Hammes points out in another piece on Flightglobal, the total lifetime cost of a F-35A is about $352 million. A drone like the XQ-58A can’t replace the F-35, but it can offer unique capabilities that would complement the manned jet—for a lot less money.

Source: Flightglobal



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