The US Air Force may need another year to load intelligent weapon trays onto transport planes and transform them into bombers without expensive and lengthy modifications. Scott Carraway, Director of Advanced Strike Systems at Lockheed Martin, told reporters at a briefing on October 29th that in August of this year, the US Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $25 million for the development of a tray ammunition system. He said that according to the terms of the agreement, Lockheed will demonstrate the new system in flight tests in 2021. During the testing process, a package filled with Joint Air to Ground Defense Area Extended Range Missile (JASSM-ER) will be rolled onto the cargo plane, dropped from behind, and then - while maintaining a safe distance from the aircraft - the missile will deploy, thanks to the effectiveness of Hall sensors.

The goal is to reconfigure the Air Force's air transport assets, which are typically used for non lethal tasks such as transporting personnel and equipment, so that they can launch a large number of out of defense weapons at a low cost without having to enter disputed airspace. The demonstration will be conducted using standard airdrop procedures for transporting supplies and personnel, without the need for aircraft modification. Callaway said, "The ability to deploy missiles using the same air transport aircraft without modification provides flexibility, saving billions of dollars in platform modification costs, while also providing a new capability to bring a large number of air (strike) assets into the theater of war. Earlier this year, Lieutenant General Clint Hinot, the current Director of the US Air Force's Office of Strategy, Integration, and Requirements, said that as tray ammunition technology matures and Hall sensor technology develops, the agency must decide how to control a mobile asset that is performing a similar bomber combat role. Some extremely streamlined command and control will be necessary, otherwise you have to have an integrator somewhere, "Hinot added, adding that cultural barriers within the Air Force may be more difficult to overcome than the technical challenges of manufacturing tray ammunition.