Re: Weapons in spaaaace
" ...There's a similar problem with space-plane Space Marine insertion - to land anything designed to travel at hypersonic velocities just below orbital velocity, you need a rather long runway....."
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"They" have NEVER done that! The plane NEVER LANDS except back on the US mainland or in UK-controlled Diego Garcia! For any MODERN operator insertion, you install an Operator Ejection Capsule which is basically a ceramic-coated heat-shielded composite shell that can be ejected at high speed (5000+ mph) from an underside mission-specific payload bay or sometimes from a aerodynamically-shaped rear capsule that simply falls to Earth from high-up and then falls fast to deploy a low-altitude-open parachute (i.e. a HALO jump)
The operator(s) climbs out of the shell, gets their gear and as noiselessly as possible, destroys/buries the ejection capsule parts and goes on their mission. You can do single-person, two-person and four-person ejection modules nowadays. The capsules have small rebreather systems for breathing air and internal heating/cooling systems so they can be kept COMPLETELY separate from the main aerospace craft and deployed ANYWHERE in the world at any time!
Some of the more modern mission-specific ejection capsules which are deployed from now re-configured Green Lady or Spearfisher craft (and even the SR75 mothercraft / picky back spaceplane!) have enough room to carry foldable E-bikes, electric 4x4 scooters or gas-powered long-range cross-country motocross bikes with sidepacks, and have attachments for comms/computers, sniper rifles, personnel defence weapons, small munitions/mines/demolition systems and personal shelter and lifesaving gear which the operator takes along with them.
I've even seen a capsule with collapsible super-lightweight carbon-fibre-tube-based 4x4 DESERT AND ROCK RUNNING DUNE BUGGIES in them with TWEEL-based folding-wheel technology that literally folds out like a collapsible tent and now you have 100 km+ range electric or small-engine liquid fuel dune buggy that can take your 2 to 4 operators QUIETLY to their final mission launch points!
It's as claustrophobic as all hell but each operator is only in the capsule for maybe two to three hours maximum during flight operations. Even some modern HALE-III/HALE-IV DRONES have small ejection capsules that can be carried for special operations personnel to be deployed in uncontested air environments (usually!) for specialized missions where actual open-air parachuting in just too risky or where specialized gear (like the folding dune buggy!) and munitions needs to be carried a distance away from the final area of operations!
For ONE interesting story told in deep whispers just a few years ago, some old F117a Stealth Fighters had their internal bomb bays reconfigured to fit a custom built HALO operator ejection capsule. The F117a has two internal bomb bays that when you fit a capsule in them, the INTERIOR SPACE of each capsule would be about 10 feet long at 30 inches wide and 30 inches deep which is enough room to carry a single small-stature operator and their folding e-bike and camp/arms gear! (it's cramped as hell but doable on a mental and physical basis for specially trained personnel)
Since an F117a has TWO of those bomb-bays, you could deliver TWO operators at tree-top level into contested airspace and dump the capsule deep into hostile territory. The OTHER operators would be delivered during the same mission or in a separate mission later on!
NOW YOU NOW THE REST OF THE STORY !!!!
V
Biting the hand that feeds IT
