@bscholl@DJSnM@boomsupersonic Second, more cursed idea: a two-stage design that ejects the draggy lifting surfaces. The full aircraft climbs to altitude, ejects the draggy bits, and the remaining control and propulsion module dives to hit Mach 1. All landing on parachute.
Been saying for years that the best offset to our shipbuilding woes is build more B-21 than there are birds in the air and load them up with LRASM.
It wonโt solve all our problems and we still need ships for sea control but if you want to bonk ships itโll do the trick in spades.
@KenKirtland17 Even cooler if those maintenance tugs operate with an occasional starship to provide upmass and downmass, i.e. ferrying racks in and out of orbit for maintenance