[Preface: rich pure&simple's mordantly sarcastic cynicism aside, the following is not meant to be satirical - it's the real deal plucked neatly from yesterday's CNN.com]
Apparently the military would very much like to acquire and has a pressing need for an arsenal of those new fangled hypersonic cruise vehicle (HCV) dealies. Who wouldn't want to the first one on the block to have one of these super-sexy vehicles in the driveway. Hell this little creampuff doesn't even need a driver.
So what's the draw? This sexy little sports car is nothing if not fast (typically mach 4 to mach 8) and it flies real high. By the time you know its there (big sonic boom I surmise) then like, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, it's gone already.
Kick the tires a bit.
I think we can all agree that there's nothing new about a pentagon wish list replete with concomitant jaw-dropping price tags. Considering the motor for this tidy tidbit doesn't even exist except in theory, building the HCV prototype won't be a reality any time soon. Still, one can dream right?
[Technical note: Pratt and Whitney, a well known producer of conventional jet engines, is, at this moment, developing so-called scram jet technology which provides the basis behind this little number. It's true the Concord SST is now history. Recall, though, that the SST - despite its ten-thousand dollar transatlantic flight ticket price was originally meant to turn a profit. It doesn't anymore and that's why its gone. That and the fact that these planes are kind of worn out now. Not a deterrent for the military though. The military has plenty of gas and if they run out, presumably, they'll just go get more (!).]
So here's what's on the window sticker? It'll fly, together with 12000 pounds of arabiac killing ordnance anywhere in the world (up to 9000 miles), deliver said ordnance and fly home, all from the confines of a normal runway in the U.S. No need to involve those oh so inconvenient and down-right rude coalition forces. The U.S. can send this sporty baby anywhere in the world on a unilateral basis.
Make no mistake, rich pure&simple appreciates and respects a good gadget and has almost an ethereal inquisitiveness about things that go really fast, do really neat things and/or make loud noises.
There's something about this story that bothers me on a seemingly surreptitious basis. It's the fact that this planned aircraft (and doesn't one have an almost palpable feeling that they're actually trying to build this somewhere or are at least gearing up for it with or without congressional support - wouldn't that be a stretch?) doesn't have thing one to do with the defense of our nation except, of course, for the purpose of pre-emptive strikes on "terrorists". We, as a nation haven't engaged in this business since intercontinental ballistic missiles of the cold-war.
The need for such technology will be all the more necessary, the agency said[DARPA], because the "current and future international political environment severely constrains this country's ability to conduct long-range strike missions on high-value, time-critical targets" from outside continental United States.
In other words, such technology would have been ideal for that opening bid of the Iraq war to kill Saddam Hussein had the United States been prevented, for diplomatic reasons, from operating from outside its own territory.
I don't get it. Is this pre-emptive strike thing going to become a standard operating procedure in this country's future? Are we now in the business of actually planning for that? By the way, please assure me that Bush won't still be in the Whitehouse in twenty years! Someone please 'splain this development to me will ya'? Either way, I don't think that this story has a happy outcome.
5:19:53 PM 
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