The Military’s Puzzling Plan To Have SpaceX Deliver A C-17’s Worth Of Cargo Anywhere In An Hour (Updated) – The Drive

Other experts have questioned the concept altogether, noting that point-to-point space launches will usher in a new host of issues that must be addressed before this concept gets off the ground. Victoria Samson at the Secure World Foundation told Breaking Defense's Theresa Hitchens that TRANSCOM's plans open up a regulatory can of worms:

It seems like it would provide a host of traffic management questions, as well as spaceport issues. Where would these craft be taking off/landing? Will we have spaceport bases in allied territory, and if not, how does this benefit our troops overseas if we still have to move them through ground transportation systems?

It isn't exactly clear what kind of scenarios would require this type of high-cost rapid transport, either. One could imagine using the system for moving very time-sensitive equipment and supplies to forward operating locations, but even if the cost is far less than an actual SpaceX orbital launch, it would still likely be a huge investment every time it is used. The exact infrastructure requirements are also unknown as is just how such heavy loads will be delivered safely. Suborbital flights would drastically increase the available payload of a system like Falcon 9, as opposed to its orbital insertion mission, but safely landing tens of tons of cargo in some sort of a cost-effective manner remains a question mark, albeit one that will be really interesting to see solved.

This certainly isn't the first time the U.S. military has fancied the ability to move things around the globe, including people, far faster than existing airlift concepts can provide. In 2018, now-retired Air Force General Carlton Everhart, then-head of that service's Air Mobility Command (AMC), which is part of TRANSCOM, made similar comments about space-based logistics after having sat down with SpaceX, as well as Virgin Orbit.

Think about this. Thirty minutes, 150 metric tons, [and] less than the cost of a C-5 [cargo plane], Everhart said. I said, I need to get me some of that. How do I do that?

Those remarks prompted many of the same questions that still exist now. Those same issues have dogged similar efforts that have come and gone since the 1960s, including the abortive Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion (SUSTAIN) effort, which received support from the Pentagon's National Security Space Office and U.S. Marine Corps in the 2000s and was said to be "doable" by the end of the 2010s. You can read more about that project and other efforts in the context of Everhart's 2018 comments in this past War Zone piece.

Still, SpaceX is no stranger to giving the DoD what it wants. It has previously teamed up with the U.S. Air Force to offer datalink services through their Starlink satellite constellations for the USAFs burgeoning Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). ABMS is designed to link U.S. forces and allies across all domains, enabling real-time data fusion and sharing on an unprecedented level. Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, has previously stated that data is now an essential warfighting resource as valuable as jet fuel, and is the key to next-gen warfare. SpaceX was recently awarded around 40% of the U.S. Space Forces launch service contracts through 2024 and another $149 million to develop early warning satellites for the Space Development Agency (SDA).

While Lyonss comments about the potential for planet-wide deliveries in one hour may sound like an exaggeration, it does follows along with other recent comments made by other military brass. Just last year, retired Air Force Lieutenant General Steven Kwast claimed that existing cutting-edge technology makes it possible to deliver any human being from any place on planet Earth to any other place in less than an hour."

While TRANSCOM hasn't mentioned delivering personnel using rockets, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has stated that the company's Starship rocket will soon enable point-to-point travel - for those willing to withstand the Gs such a trip would exert on the body. Kwast's comments remain peculiar, but using rockets for rapid transport across the globe could point in the direction of his claims. Still, we are not talking about a man rating for the system at this time, at least according to TRANSCOM.

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The Military's Puzzling Plan To Have SpaceX Deliver A C-17's Worth Of Cargo Anywhere In An Hour (Updated) - The Drive