First? No thanks, we've already got one.
Posted on 05/24/2010 2:57:37 PM PDT by decimon
The Space Shuttle may be dead, but the Air Force is looking to pick up the slack. Last month they launched their secret space plane, the X-37B, from a base from Florida. The spacecraft is currently on the first part of a top secret nine month mission that will end with a soft landing in California.
So is the X-37B the Air Force's first foray into creating the world's first starfighter? Absolutely, not says the Air Force. Gary E. Payton, under secretary of the Air Force for space programs says that the plane carries "no offensive capabilities." He states, "The program supports technology risk reduction, experimentation and operational concept development."
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If the X-37B indeed does not hold space weapons, fans of high-tech weapons can soften their disappointment with the news that the X-51A Waverider hypersonic missile will conduct its first test flight tomorrow.
The new missile is designed to have a unique profile from traditional ICBMs, to prevent nuclear powers like China and Russia from mistaking the missile for a nuclear warhead. The missile is to be launched from a B-52 Stratofortress bomber.
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(Excerpt) Read more at dailytech.com ...
Ping.
Had this launched under Bush.....Mass protests in Europe and Islamic uprisings...
First? No thanks, we've already got one.
Should have developed the X-20.
from Dale Brown's Strike Force (2007) - Three years after the events of Plan of Attack, McLanahan uses new XR-A9 Black Stallion spaceplanes to intervene and change the course of history in Iran
XR-A9 Black Stallion:
It is a hybrid space plane capable of flying without fuel due to its revolutionary LPDRS or Laser Pulse Detonation Rocket System which shoots powerful lasers into the mix of fuel and air. This system can ignite the pressurized air coming into the combustion chamber, but "a couple hundred pounds of fuel every hour" is added in. It has one payload bay which can carry 3 AGM-170 missiles or 16 250 pound bombs.
Oh, you betcha, that's guaranteed to work! - unless General Strelnikov or General Wang had one too many bottles of vodka the night before, and launches on warning...
hey China....nice aircraft carrier....sorry we gotta trash it :)
Bump
The X-37B is actually a re-supply vehicle for the Lagrange Point bases....
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