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To: Southack

>>But the F-22 can't do what Rutan's civilian SpaceShipOne can do. It can't go as high as Rutan and it can't go as fast. Rutan's machine carries up to 3 people and costs only $10 million. The F-22 can't touch that, even though we're spending more than a Billion Dollars per Raptor right now.

What are you smoking? The F-22 can't make toast either. In fact, to my knowledge, no current US fighter aircraft can, so I guess we might as well just give up on them. SpaceShipOne is designed for a completely different purpose than a fighter aircraft, it has no attack or defense capabilities of any kind, nor could they easily be added.


78 posted on 05/31/2004 7:24:09 PM PDT by LonghornFreeper
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To: LonghornFreeper
"The F-22 can't make toast either. In fact, to my knowledge, no current US fighter aircraft can, so I guess we might as well just give up on them. SpaceShipOne is designed for a completely different purpose than a fighter aircraft, it has no attack or defense capabilities of any kind, nor could they easily be added."

And yet, if I described a Russian fighter that could outrun our fighters and go sub-orbital, you'd scream that we were behind the Russians in aviation technology (and in that scenario, you'd be correct).

I've said it before on this thread and I'll say it again: Rutan's SpaceShipOne is important to illustrate that a technological milestone has been crossed. Civilian aircraft are now flying at Mach 6 and going sub-orbital.

If you think that the entire military world is going to miss the importance of this new paradigm shift then you are in the wrong line of analysis.

86 posted on 05/31/2004 7:32:10 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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