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I could see utility in being able to rapidly deploy a team of special ops, or specialized unanticipated equipment, to a faraway location. This won't be landing
by gaius 9y ago
I could see utility in being able to rapidly deploy a team of special ops, or specialized unanticipated equipment, to a faraway location.
This won't be landing on any improvised airstrips, and a hypersonic configuration won't be able to go slow enough to drop paratroopers.
- adventured 9y agoCouldn't you put the paratroopers in a drop vehicle, purpose built for that? We bring astronauts back at mach 23-25. That's not to say it wouldn't be quite an engineering effort. I'm sure they can find a billion dollars to build it if someone decides it's worth doing. The more interesting impact would be on the design of the plane doing the drop. While I think you could keep the paratroopers alive, I'm skeptical there's any way you can go that fast and drop a large container. I would expect the process to destroy the plane by making it too unstable.
- gaius 9y agoCouldn't you put the paratroopers in a drop vehicle, purpose built for that? The Osprey is probably the fastest troop carrier, so you would need to identify some use cases it can’t do then figure out if the cost is worth it. Traditionally SF get there by jumping in and then hiking cross-country, is there a use case for getting them on the ground in a couple of hours?