Two hours to strike anywhere on planet. This idea was around in the last days of the cold war, but ICBMs, and the end of the cold war left the idea lacking a good motivation. Now of course, in the days of war against terrorism, "strike anywhere in 2 hours" has sex appeal for rubbing out any challengers to Pax Americana.

Actually, an "atmosphere skipping glide bomber" was originally conceived in Germany in the 1930s. German scientists who came to the U.S. continued to pursue the spaceplane concept for NASA. The aircraft seen to crash in the entry sequence for the U.S. television series "The Six Million Dollar Man" was the X-24, a "lifting body" test vehicle. This was a later development based on the "dynasoar" an ICBM launched bomber that could deliver nuclear weapons from orbit (as well as perform many space shuttle like duties such as orbital reconaissance, space station & satellite service, etc.) The last direct descendant of this technology is the Lockheed X-33. Perhaps this is the design that will be used for the "Hypersonic strike aircraft"
11:53:58 PM    comment