This is part of Exercise Emerald Warrior, a U.S. Special Operations Command-sponsored two week joint/combined tactical undertaking designed to provide realistic military training in an urban setting.

It’s a United States Air Force C-130 aircraft landing on a dirt airstrip at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. Within it is an enormous HIMARS Rocket Launcher (M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System): “a highly mobile, multi-launch rocket system based on the Army’s Medium Tactical Vehicle truck frame.

It weighs 24,000 lbs. and requires a crew of three.

In the video you can see the launcher in action, toward the end, after the C-130 kicks up a dirty storm and takes back off.

Foxtrot Alpha