Posted on 04/25/2010 3:16:32 AM PDT by Scanian
Call it a reusable space vehicle. Call it a space plane. But whatever you do, just don’t call it a space weapon.
That’s the message from the Air Force after last week’s launch of its X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, which can stay on orbit up to 270 days. The Air Force won’t say what, exactly, the robotic space plane will be doing there, how long it will linger this time, or even how much it costs. But the military is already in the process of building a second aircraft, which will fly next year.
Officially the Air Force has described the X-37B, which is lofted into orbit by a rocket and then can land like an aircraft on a runway, as a test vehicle. As for the secrecy surrounding it, Gary Payton, the deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space programs, says simply that the aircraft’s experimental payloads are classified “like in many of our space launches.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
obamanation must not have known about this for he surely would have scuttled any tests—or given it to hamas or binladen
Bingo.
In the olden days they called it the “Hallmark” missile.
“When you care enough to send the Very best”
So, why are we lickassing arabs for? Demand and get them to sue for peace on our terms. We gonna develop some more super effective weapons, and then let the politicans prevent us from using them, while we wait for the next 9/11??
No, we're going to "develop some more super effective weapons" so that some crooked politician can sell them to our enemies!
“...so that some crooked politician can sell them to our enemies!”
...so that Obama, like Clinton, can GIVE them to our enemies!
What makes you think he hasn't given the technology to Hamas or AQ?
Yeeeeeeaaaah... How many more days left?
Dale Brown, Dale Brown. Please pick up the white courtesy phone.
The beauty of this platform vs. ICMs is that there is no launch signature.
I hope it has good ASAT/laser countermeasures.
ICMs = ICBMs
We regret the error.
bump
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment
No need for ICBM’s - just sharpen up your old set of Ping’s and let ‘em rip! Faster, cheaper, and apparently legal.
When it absolutely positively needs to be blown up right now!
LOL. Tungsten-based orbital golf from Hell. The new “Thor” driver set.
Hear ya. The biggest problem with launching an ICBM is that it will make a lot of countries (w/nukes) very nervous. Until it is determined where it is really going, things will be very tense.
It is legal, but very destabilizing since it is a fractional orbit bombardment system. It would be difficult to prove that the system didn’t carry nuclear warheads, so Russia’s perceived margin of error to respond to a potential nuclear attack is reduced from over 30 minutes to less than 5.
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