America to build super weapons;US-based missiles to cover world

Guardian ^ | 07/01/03 | Julian Borger

[Pyro7480]

Two words: totally cool!

[templar]

Wonder what it will cost; both to develop and to use.

[Neanderthal]

If we can do it our enemies will be able to do it someday too. I hope it takes them a while.

[Gabrielle Reilly]

Have not had time to read thread today or this article.

Here is a ping incase it is interesting.

[Salman]

bump

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[USNBandit]

Here we go again, a 21st century version of the B-36. I can hear the Air Force calling for reductions in CV battlegroups and infantry divisions already.

[Southack]

"If we can do it our enemies will be able to do it someday too. I hope it takes them a while."

Nonsense.

Only two nations have *ever* put a Man into space. We did so more than four decades ago.

We're the **only** nation to ever put Men on the Moon. That was more than 3 full decades ago.

Only a dozen nations have figured out how to build an atomic bomb, something that we did more than half a century ago during World War Two.

Only one nation has undetectable submarines, and that's us.

Only one nation has stealth fighters and bombers, again, that's us.

Call me when other nations figure out how to get a man to the Moon. Until then, other nations can't do squat.

But we can do it all.

[LasVegasMac]

America to build super weapons

US-based missiles to cover world

Moscow, Bejing, Tehran, Paris, all of North Korea, will soon be smoldering ruins. Our embedded reporters will have it all. Stay tuned for film at 11.

Sorry. the first two lines just beg for the liberal rant / rave - that was what I was expecting.

The line on which demoRat will be the first to scream about it?

LVM

[Filibuster_60]

All the major military powers are in fact researching hypsersonic aircraft. As far as timeframes go, the Chinese announced in '01 that it'll take as little as 15 years for them to get a prototype flying.

[Ronin]

The unmanned HCV would carry a payload of up to 12,000 lbs and could ultimately fly at speeds of up to 10 times the speed of sound...

I know what I want for my birthday now.

[Filibuster_60]

If the Russians team up with the Chinese they won't be too far behind. After all the Russians never sent anyone to the moon yet they arguably have the best heavy-lift rockets in the world, far more cost-effective than our space shuttle has been.

[aruanan]

A simple titanium rod would be able to penetrate 70 feet of solid rock and the shock wave would have enormous destructive force.

A more precise form of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

[aruanan]

As far as timeframes go, the Chinese announced in '01 that it'll take as little as 15 years for them to get a prototype flying.

That was back when they figured they'd have Gore or Hillary in the White House to keep the technological pipeline flowing for them.

[Filibuster_60]

Actually their announcement came right after 9/11.

[chaosagent]

"A simple titanium rod would be able to penetrate 70 feet of solid rock and the shock wave would have enormous destructive force."

Project Thor lives!

[Filibuster_60]

Something related of interest:

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/hyperx.html

Hyper-X is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, "air-breathing" engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. The test vehicle for the project is designated the X-43A. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden’s primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort.

The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research.

"We're finally getting down to testing the basic science of a new propulsion system that could ultimately alter commercial aerospace and national security," said Charles Vick, acting director of space policy for the Federation of American Scientists. "It's a big step forward for aerospace technology."

It would come after repeated setbacks to design of a hypersonic craft. A $2.5-billion Reagan-era hypersonic program, based in Southern California, was scuttled.

With one short flight, to begin off the coast of Los Angeles, NASA officials say dreams of a commercial airliner that can fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in two hours instead of 10 is one step closer to reality. The military's vision calls for a bomber that would be too fast to shoot down.

Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic vehicles will be able to carry heavier payloads.

Another unique aspect of the X-43A vehicle is the airframe integration. The body of the vehicle itself forms critical elements of the engine. The forebody acts as part of the intake for airflow and the aft section serves as the nozzle.

The X-43A vehicles were manufactured by Micro Craft, Inc., Tullahoma, Tennessee. Orbital Sciences Corporation, Chandler, Arizona, built the Pegasus rocket booster used to launch the X-43 vehicles. For the Dryden research flights, the Pegasus rocket booster and attached X-43 will be air launched by Dryden’s B-52 "Mothership." After release from the B-52, the booster will accelerate the X-43A vehicle to the established test conditions (Mach 7 to 10) at an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet where the X-43 will separate from the booster and fly under its own power and preprogrammed control.

As the lead Center for the flight-research effort, Dryden engineers are working closely with their colleagues from Langley and industry to refine the design of the X-43A vehicles. Dryden also is managing the fabrication of both the X-43A vehicles and the expendable booster rockets that will serve as launch vehicles. Dryden also will perform flight-research planning as well as some vehicle instrumentation and provide control of the tests.

The program was kicked off by President Reagan less than a week after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 in a State of the Union address in which he described an "Orient Express" that could by 2000 "take off from Dulles Airport, accelerate up to 25 times the speed of sound . . . flying to Tokyo within two hours."

But with the recession and Congress under pressure from critics who argued that such a plane would not fly, funding dwindled prompting several aerospace companies to abandon or significantly scale down the project.

NASA kept up the research, however, tapping into studies completed for the National Aero-Space Plane. The project left a legacy of about 20 trailers filled with invaluable research papers and data, NASA officials said.

The X-43A test flight comes as a recent study by the Air Force's Scientific Advisory panel warned that several other countries were developing hypersonic aircraft that could pose both national-security and commercial threats to the U.S. The report, which echoes warnings made more than 10 years ago during the Reagan era, said extensive work was being undertaken in such countries as Russia, France, Japan, China and India.

Particularly worrisome were reports that the countries were focusing on developing hypersonic cruise missiles.

The report said "hypersonic offers the promise of a unique set of capabilities and attributes that can dramatically expand and improve Air Force core competencies and mission." It ended by recommending that a national strategy be resurrected.

[zarf]

And it would cost the equivalent of the entire GNP of the United States from 1776 to 2003....and that doesn't include the cost of the engine in the delivery vehicle.

[Pukin Dog]

If we can do it our enemies will be able to do it someday too. I hope it takes them a while.

Not really. These things take CASH, manufacturing capacity and will. Besides that, once done, the US can prohibit any followers at the point of our spear.