A unit is fighting on an island in the Pacific. It’s short on ammunition and food, and enemy fire makes bringing in supplies by plane, helicopter, or ship impossible. But back in the United States, needed supplies are loaded into a massive rocket and launched toward space. Less than 90 minutes later, the supplies land next to the unit.
That’s an idea the military is actively pursuing, and last week the Air Force got one step closer to making that a reality.
The Air Force Research Laboratory said that it tested out its “Rocket Cargo” concept last week, putting one of its “agile cargo pods” on a SpaceX Starfall capsule. The launch, on Oct. 20 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, took the capsule into space, where Air Force researchers could see how the stresses of spaceflight affect a payload of MREs, water and portable tools and electronics.
The concept of rocket cargo is part science fiction, part practical. The military sends up a rocket from the United States, carrying tons of supplies, from rations to ammunition to emergency gear or survival equipment. Launched from the U.S., a rocket can theoretically reach any spot on Earth within an hour.
Though last week’s test was of a fairly small container, Air Force leaders have said the eventual goal is to launch cargo equivalent to that carried by a C-17. According to the lab, the rocket cargo system “could one day support rapid global mobility to contested environments and austere sites without access to runways and roads, including contested logistics, expeditionary operations, rescue operations, disaster relief, and response to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) hazards.”
The Air Force said this specific capsule launched on Oct. 20 carried survival gear but also a SATCOM-enabled tracker, a reverse osmosis desalinator and batteries.
“This was a critical achievement to demonstrate the potential of Rocket Cargo delivery for point-to-point rapid global mobility for the Future Force,” Adam Remaly, the director of the Air Force Research Laboratory Technology Transition Office, said in the announcement.
The Air Force has been exploring the concept for some time. As Task & Purpose previously reported, the Air and Space forces have awarded more than $100 million in research and test contracts to several aerospace firms.
The tests fit into a larger effort by the wider military to better resupply forward-deployed troops or forces in contested areas, while reducing risk to logistics forces. Many of those experiments have focused on smaller ground or aerial drones.
Earlier this month, a top Space Force general said that the service needs a third spaceport to support its launch goals. The Pentagon currently operates two spaceports, one at Cape Canaveral, the other at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant said last week that a third spaceport was “aspirational,” according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.
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