Comments on: Axe Meets the Space Marines

By: donik ivan

donik ivan — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:13:10 +0000

Who told that don. t exist.Are you forghot former 47 space wing,even Apollo crue,even some hidden army programms.How about Area51.Beleive or not:it exist.Many of them will never told that is member of USMC/ United Space Marine Corpus/. And that people exist he, live around world and newer will told that they are servicing as SMC mebers, as ordinary marines kept secret what they douing in space. Y know that somebody would not belive me,bat it,s thrue and will stay in shadow what they douing. It is thrue, and will stay in secrecy. Do not ask me if y am, y will not answer you back if y am. Y am proud in to his yob; His logo is:Y will never leave may comrad behinde and y will not fail.You know that as part of the Airman creed it is a logo of USMC.Even usmc song is :From the time of Motezuma Siencerely. PS:If somebody ask me y will denayed that y am meber of the USM.

By: Robdog

Robdog — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:37:37 +0000

Why not just have the Army do it? If I’m not mistaken, the Air Force is working on a hypersonic vehicle named the Falcon, that promises to strike anywhere in the world in two hours, and this from a state side air field no less. Insertion from an air field sounds like a role more befitting outfits like the 101st and 82nd airborne.
Just my two cents.

By: stephen russell

stephen russell — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 23:02:28 +0000

Great way to move the Marines tomorrow.
Aside sub to the shoreline submerged.
Best bets for Team Units only.
Must fund SUSTAIN.
Nice.

By: Brian Cline

Brian Cline — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:42:52 +0000

Drop Marines from space, awesome.
Practical? no.
Possible? you better believe.
The fact is that Marines are water based, if a country is bordered by a sea, the Marines can and will attack, but attacking a landlocked country is kinda new to the Corps and they are just brainstorming ways to get around enemy/neutral(bs) countries that refuse to give fly through rights. Thats why the Marines attacked Iraq before the Army, I believe it was a problem with Turkey. Off the wall ideas lead to inovative techniques that will shape the Corps for years to come.

By: joe

joe — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 05:17:05 +0000

Even thought I am not old enough to get into the Marines yet, I would be willing to be in a squad like that. I think that would be a wonderful way to transport squads. You also get to go into space, somthing that would be so sweet. And props to who ever made the picture of the moon base, it really caught my eye.

By: Steve Weintz

Steve Weintz — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 14:56:39 +0000

As mentioned, this idea is not new…check out Douglas Bono’s 1964 concept for a ballistic troop transport:
http://www.abo.fi/~mlindroo/SpaceLVs/Slides/sld013.htm
“The smaller

By: myarrow

myarrow — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 06:03:05 +0000

Doesn’t it seem like an operation involving SUSTAIN would bear similarities to the allied use of glider-borne troops in WW2?

By: mike

mike — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 01:59:23 +0000

This is not a new idea. It was proposed as a strawman over fifty years ago by a Marine general. I forget his name but will research it and get back to you.
He did not propose it as something that could be done then or could even be done in fifty or a hundred years. He mentioned it as just one item in a laundry list of many in an attempt to get officers thinking about how to conduct warfare in a future that would have different restraints than in the 20th century.
You may be able to get the original article from the archives of the Marine Corps Gazette.
mike

By: Daverino

Daverino — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:46:20 +0000

When I read things like this I can’t help but to think that the DOD has become a bunch of imaginative children who have lost touch with reality.
There is a war on, one that is not going well, and is said to be of vital importance.
Someone needs to be slapped in the face Bogart style and told: “We don’t have time for this!”.

By: Roderick Reilly

Roderick Reilly — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 22:00:57 +0000

Two huge issues:
1)Size of vehicle (I assume that — if one wants to go through the trouble and expense of sending Marines through space, you’d want to send a bunch in several large craft).
2)Method of landing.
For 1), A large hypersonic-speed craft has never been developed. Someone mentioned Rutan’s success, and perhaps Virgin Atlantic’s larger version might do the trick, except: It has no useable hypersonic range to speak of.
For 2), landing an aircraft-like vehicle from hypersonic speed to a likely landing speed is out of the question, because you really need to have very short landing distances in unpredictable terrain. Something like the DC-X (VTOL) that Blue Origins is emulating would be the best bet, but would have to be large.
Another option is paraglider technology combined with brief rocket breaking. You would definitely want major air support for any of these schemes, because the weight penalties for self-defense on any of these approaches would be prohibitive payload-wise.