[M1Tanker]

I didn't know there was a lot of advences in pulse detonation... but my area is ground combat. Pulse Detonation engines/reactors, like so many things, were science fiction mantras only 10 years ago. But, as most things science "fiction", they turn into science "fact" in a short period.

Thanks for the conversation. It's great to have an honest debate with someone who is challenging (without attacking) and makes me go back and check my postion and resources. It helps us all grow and learn. I used to be stationed in Baumholder, GE and visited Metz, France often. I also got a chance to go to Normandy and Ruen in 2000.

[Atlantic Friend]

Ah, don't mention it, Tanker. Like you, I prefer a honest debate to a holier-than-thou or I-know-it-all verbal attack.
I'm all the more open to criticism, since I'm not real happy at my gov't handling of the Iraqi affair either (or at the sending of a French destroyer to participate to the last Chinese naval exercises).

As for Pulse Detonation, it looks like ts status has been upgraded from Sci-Fi to Near Future ! The Russians also have amazing projects, like the cryoplane, a plane theoretically able to reach Mach 8+ (a bit like the US ramjet that made his test flight recently). Makes me wonder what we'll miss and what our children and grandchildren will enjoy and see as perfectly normal.

Say, where are you stationed now ?