U.S. Wants Soldiers Inserted Into Troubled Areas via Rockets

[SUBMAN1]

Buck Rogers, here we come! I'd like to see them pull this off.

http://www.dailytech.com/US+Wants+So...ticle13228.htm

-S

Military officials eye inserting troops anywhere on the globe in two hours by rocket...

[Schöneboom]

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!

[bookworm_020]

This was looked at back in the 50's by space boffins to try and get (and keep!) the intrest of the military in space and space programs. Before Spunik the US had very little intrest in space and space programs and someone came up with this idea to try and get some more funding.

It was worked out the cost per launch, and the minimal amount of equipment that could be carried due to space / weight reqirements ment that the program was never looked at all that much and shelved pretty quickly!

[Digital_Trucker]

Totally non-scientific question, but does anyone think that the prospects for this being successful might have decreased significantly when they chose 13 for the number of soldiers that would be transported?

[baggygreen]

here is a slightly more scientific (or perhaps not!) question that DTs: how does this affect the whole 'no militarisation of space' thing??

[Diopos]

Originally Posted by baggygreen

here is a slightly more scientific (or perhaps not!) question that DTs: how does this affect the whole 'no militarisation of space' thing??

Easy! Get a lawyer!
I imagine his argument would be something in the line of: they are not staying in space they are just passing through!

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Not much. The soldiers can't do anything in space - they are just payload. If you want to complain about payload you have to complain about all ICBMs, and none of the big powers are going to do that.

What I'm interested in, however, is how they plan for the soldiers to stay conscious as the Trident (presumably they'll be using a Trident) blasts off with accelerations suited for carrying warheads, not humans.

I can just see this. These guys are blasted off by Trident rocket to Iran. By the time the main rocket stops two are unconscious from G-LOC. The Iranians spot them coming. As they groggily fight off all the Gs they've been taking from takeoff to landing, plus the shock of landing, and open the hatches (without any help from the outside), they are surrounded by Pasdaran...

[AntEater]

Actually I think this is quite doable.
But what if these space Marines are shot around half the globe 12 seconds after somebody does something the US does not like?
I mean:
- what can a squad of soldiers accomplish? I mean if they turn them into Heinlein-style über Marines, they will weigh twice as much as normal Soldiers. And despite Tom Clancy, a squad of Marines can't beat an entire Army.
- How are they going to get back again?
I mean if they go in, assasinate Bin Laden/Achmadinejad/Chavez/Kim Yong Il or Benedict XVI, how do they get back out?
Same goes for hostage rescue.
There will have to be some CSAR assets in place, and moving them into the region takes the same amount of work and time it would take to move a full conventional SPECOPS team there.

Sorry but the US should rather get a new CSAR helicopter, a real littorial combat ship or a new infantry rifle.

[Diopos]

Originally Posted by AntEater

Actually I think this is quite doable.
But what if these space Marines are shot around half the globe 12 seconds after somebody does something the US does not like?
I mean:
- what can a squad of soldiers accomplish? I mean if they turn them into Heinlein-style über Marines, they will weigh twice as much as normal Soldiers. And despite Tom Clancy, a squad of Marines can't beat an entire Army.
- How are they going to get back again?
I mean if they go in, assasinate Bin Laden/Achmadinejad/Chavez/Kim Yong Il or Benedict XVI, how do they get back out?
Same goes for hostage rescue.
There will have to be some CSAR assets in place, and moving them into the region takes the same amount of work and time it would take to move a full conventional SPECOPS team there.

Sorry but the US should rather get a new CSAR helicopter, a real littorial combat ship or a new infantry rifle.

And to continue your line of thought
1 rkt/squad (section)
3-4 rkts/platoon (light)
9-16 rkts/company (light to medium ie 3-4 plattons/company) and assuming they don't need extra rkts as ammo carriers, vehicle(???) carriers etc.

Get back? Uhmmm............. Must they?

I mean I fully understand "rapid deployment" but this...

[SteamWake]

Anyone even remotely knowledgable of the massive logistics required for the mobilization of troops for say the D day invasion, Op Desert Storm, and the like.

Should know full and well that 13 soldiers stuffed into a tube is not going to amount to much of anything.

A sci-fi fantasy pipe dream.

When they can rocket a carrier with support and attack aircraft along with its multitude of logistics let me know.

[Letum]

I want to see troops inserted by laser sharks with rockets for eyes.

Originally Posted by Letum

I want to see troops inserted by laser sharks with rockets for eyes.

Better idea: CMDF.

Shrink entire armies to the size of a matchbox, put them in a missile, shot them over, and deploy chutes once reentry is finished. Matchboxes land all over the place and one hour after the shrinking effect wears off, you have dozens of platoons with tanks and equipment all over the place.

I know it can be done because I saw it in a movie back in the 70's.

[Letum]

We should insert troops by flying nitro monster trucks with explosions for wheels.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by baggygreen

here is a slightly more scientific (or perhaps not!) question that DTs: how does this affect the whole 'no militarisation of space' thing??

Actually I think that treaty just bans Strategic weapons in space. Nothing about Tactical weapons. Which have already been flown on the Russian Almaz space station.


But inserting Marines or Airborne errr make that Spaceborne troops by rocket is just a waste of a expensive rocket. Unless your bording the ISS sending troops in to space for a short term mission is just wasteful. It takes a lot of thrust to put payload in to orbit but once its there its there for a LONG time, so why not station troops in orbit! Station a company sized unit on a space station with a bunch of reentry vehicles and you have a quick reaction force that is over a target area every 90 or so mins. Just make sure that station is a 2001 style centerfuge or all those troops are going to suffer from the lack of gravity as their muscles turn to spegetti.

Space based troops also offer the posablity of cost effective off world deployment say to the Moon or Mars... just in case we find some green 8 tenticled creature there that needs a bayonet shoved up its @$$! First contact marine style baby!

How about this insted of troops put a couple of F-22 fighters on the end of that rocket? Or two dozen tomahawk missiles? A thousand 50lb GPS guided bombs?

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Zayphod

Better idea: CMDF.

Shrink entire armies to the size of a matchbox, put them in a missile, shot them over, and deploy chutes once reentry is finished. Matchboxes land all over the place and one hour after the shrinking effect wears off, you have dozens of platoons with tanks and equipment all over the place.

I know it can be done because I saw it in a movie back in the 70's.

Duke nuke'em had a gun like that but whats to stop the enemy from just stomping them all out like ants?

Its time to kick @$$ and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum...