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posted by martyb on Tuesday June 01 2021, @09:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the logistics++ dept.

The US military is starting to get really interested in Starship:

As part of last week's federal budget rollout, a process during which the White House proposes funding levels for fiscal year 2022, the US Air Force released its "justification book" to compare its current request to past budget data. The 462-page book contains a lot of information about how the Air Force spends its approximately $200 billion budget.

For those tracking the development of SpaceX's ambitious Starship vehicle, there is an interesting tidbit tucked away on page 305, under the heading of "Rocket Cargo" (see .pdf). The Air Force plans to invest $47.9 million into this project in the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1.

"The Department of the Air Force seeks to leverage the current multi-billion dollar commercial investment to develop the largest rockets ever, and with full reusability to develop and test the capability to leverage a commercial rocket to deliver AF cargo anywhere on the Earth in less than one hour, with a 100-ton capacity," the document states.

Starship, more than just an expensive ride. Quick military equipment delivery en route.


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @04:04PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @04:04PM (#1141088)

    The Mars and Moon versions of Starship are designed to land on an unprepared field and unload unaided. You'd need a better hoist and maybe better landing gear to do that on Earth but I'm sure the military can afford the upgrades. You'd probably want to fly in a ground team for landing site selection and security but fast deployment is something Navy Seals and Deltaforce already do.

    A Starship should be ready for launch in under an hour, including loading cargo, if the launch site is fully equipped. A 100t pallet would be interesting to handle but 10x 10t pallets could be loaded in a reasonable time frame and offers greater flexibility. A half dozen rockets in storage at each of two to four sites around the US would probably be plenty and if they are intended for wartime use then they will want that capability on hand anyway.

    The hardest part will be refuelling to fly it home afterwards. You don't need a full load of fuel for a hop to the nearest military base but that is still a lot of work. Starship is also pretty cheap as rockets go so the question is if it is cheaper to haul fuel to it or just buy a new one.

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