On Oct 7, 2014, at 11:06 AM, Greg Nokes <xxxxxx@nokes.name> wrote:

> On Oct 7, 2014, at 12:53 PM, Craig Berry <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The idea of a dual-mode vacuum and atmospheric fighter has never made
>> sense to me. The optimizations for each of them are so different that
>> in combining them you end up with the worst of both worlds
>
> I don’t really see that.
>
> TTL-13/14/15 fighters are probably just armored wedges with gravatic controls. No need for an airframe. If you get hit hard enough to damage your gravitics, you likely are not going to need to be concerned about any sort of glide path, much likely anything else.
>

Kind of like this, which I just discovered this weekend:

<http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/weaver_sr71_bailout.html>

SR-71 test pilot “bailed out" at Mach 3 and 78Kft by virtue of having the plane disintegrate around him.

--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs