THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON) March 17, 2005
US 'to launch bombs from unmanned spacecraft'
By Tom Leonard, New York
The Pentagon is looking to space as the next frontier in its quest for absolute military supremacy.
It is planning a new generation of sub-orbital bombers able to strike anywhere in the world "within minutes".
The Falcon programme will this year test a launcher for its Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), an unmanned spacecraft that would travel five times the speed of sound and carry 1,000 pounds of bombs and intelligence sensors, the House armed services committee has been told.
Defence chiefs expect the CAV to be ready by 2010. A second stage of the project will develop two versions of a reusable "space plane" that could cruise at 100,000 feet, carrying a CAV anywhere in the world.
The Falcon programme is understood to reflect the Bush administration's growing interest in using space as a battle zone.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a non-governmental defence think tank, told the Washington Post the US will be able "to crush someone anywhere in the world on 30 minutes' notice".
© Copyright 2005, Telegraph Group Limited
