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Originally Posted by cosmicfish
Why? I honestly cannot think of any VIP's that are that urgent to move.
Isn't that what the Science Teams are for? And what are the odds that the time for this trip (or any other, for that matter) isn't dominated by the need then to first get the sample to the airstrip where your high speed plane is located... if one even exists in the area? Even ignoring propulsion, I cannot think of any high-speed aircraft that can operate from a dirt field, and without that it seems like a slightly slower aircraft that can land nearby is superior to a faster aircraft that you have to traverse a hundred miles in a random direction just to reach!
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Science teams in the field would be able to collect and do some limited analysis in the field. But if they need the results of a GC, HPLC or to grow cultures in a controlled environment, then they need a lab. As for jets that can operate from a gravel runway, there is the Boeing 737 and a large number of Russian MIGs. It's just a matter of getting the intakes high enough above the ground.
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Originally Posted by cosmicfish
Why is this person so important that an entire engineering team needs to devote massive pre-war resources against the possibility of their survival? And how is it that they can survive a 2-hour trip with Morrow's massive medical technology base, but not a 3-hour trip?
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Dying warlord, whose survival at the hands of the Morrow Project could stabilize the political climate in a large area, there by contributing to the mission of restoring the CONUS and allowing the redistribution of MARS assets to more other unstable regions.
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Originally Posted by cosmicfish
If that time saving didn't come with massive costs, sure... but it does. Engineering another vehicle with specialized and not-currently-extant engines, creating and maintaining the support including parts and staff, and either somehow creating a dirt-strip, high-speed aircraft or else ensuring a network of conveniently placed landing strips. That's a lot of work for little justification.
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Much of that engineering is already done. The US was flying bombers using fission powered jets in the 1950's. Using those engine designs and adapting the plenums from blowing the cold air through the fission fuel rods to cool them and create the superheated air that goes out the other plenum to create the thrust is not like making this thing from scratch. Modify the fusion reactor to express the heat more directly rather than driving the thermoelectric generators that would usually be there to produce electricity and rely on the electron capture only for on-board electrical power. Granted, that last part assumes a great deal about Project reactors that to my knowledge does not exist in canon, but which has been discussed here at great length in another thread.
I am not saying that the jet powered aircraft would be everywhere, but a small number would be useful.