Marines in space, on to do list

Although the chuckle factor hasn't altogether disappeared, the Air Force Research Laboratory and Darpa are beginning a study of options for a reusable upper-stage space travel vehicle -- the same kind of technology that the Marines might need for a ride halfway across the globe.

The effort is called "Hot Eagle," and it could be the first step forward in the Marine Corps' hopes for space travel. Within minutes of bursting into the atmosphere beyond the speed of sound -- and dispatching that ominous sonic boom -- a small squad of Marines could be on the ground and ready to take care of business within 2 hours. [One presentation muses that the capsule might later be picked up by a Osprey or by a "balloon cable and C-17" transport plane. Or, the Marines might "hike out," and "leave [the] crew capsule behind." -- ed.]

The Marine Corps calls the concept the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion Capability (Sustain). This plan, a growing group of Marine supporters say, is the natural evolution of the service's proclivity for expeditionary warfare that began decades ago with amphibious landings...

The concept is to deliver strategic equipment or a small squad of soldiers to any point on the globe -- even the most hard-to-reach location -- within hours of need. Once on the ground, those soldiers can carry out strategically critical missions like reconnaissance or destroying a specific target.

At least, that's their pitch.

Story source defensetech.org.

basically th role of the space marines would be like an aid to soilders on the ground. space marines grab supplies, jump in ship, hit overdrive, arrive to soilders and provide backup.

now does everyone believe they are coming!?

This is soo halo.So where is master chief in It.Also can you plz post the original link to the article.thanks

cant wait for this techto be reality or is it already a reality in black ops?

[edit on 26-8-2006 by coolheretic]

The technology itself is already there: it's called suborbital spaceflight. Imagine an ICBM with a payload of marines. That's essentially what this is.

Pretty cool, actually.

They're just jealous because they don't have Fulton extraction systems in the Marines. So they come up with this space Marine thing. So tacky.

The expense per Marine delivered to the AO is going to be prohibitive. It's all spacey and cool but what mission is going to be worth spending 5 million bucks per head (or more?) to insert them? You'd only use it for suicide missions, if you had to use a dang manned ballistic missile to get to the objective how are you planning to extract? If you could use a helo you could have inserted them that way too.

Surely there's something cheaper and more reliable.

Cool! We can call them sardines, cuz it starts with an S and they fly a tin can to save the world. I don't see the point in doing this though. The capsule would need to be dropped off hundreds of miles away to avoid detection, and it would cost a lot too. To improve things, I reccoment the sardines get ATVs so they can ride out in style.

Originally posted by Tom Bedlam
It's all spacey and cool but what mission is going to be worth spending 5 million bucks per head (or more?) to insert them?

Well a scenario like the 1979 Iran Hostage crisis comes to mind. Or a time critical mission to destroy a single facility (ie. nuclear power facility) without causing a war. Something that missile or air strikes would trigger.

Hey, if it gets them half-way around the world in less than two hours,
it's worth it.

I think they shoul develop a double stage to orbital plane that can
turn into a UAV jetplane when it's re-entered the atmosphere,
and the marines either parachute low over the target, or they give
it VTOL capabilities, so it can pick them up when they've finished.