Help


from Brown Corpus
« »  
If, for some reason such as economy, we are not going to develop aircraft nuclear propulsion with a sense of national urgency, then we should turn our effort to developing jet engines with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 12 or 15 to one.
With powerplants such as these, vertical takeoff and landing combat aircraft could be built.
For example, a 12-to-one engine would power a supersonic VTOL fighter.
With a 15-to-one engine, a supersonic aircraft weighing 300,000 pounds could rise vertically.
The reason that we are not going ahead full speed to develop high thrust-to-weight engines is that it would cost perhaps a billion dollars -- and you don't spend that sort of money if aircraft are obsolete.

1.845 seconds.