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| Pentagon Wants to Use Starships for Emergency Military Missions Around the World |
International Military - The Pentagon's internal military report published on Monday (20/6/2022) revealed a number of plans to use Starships for emergency missions around the world. The mission, for example, landed rescue troops at the United States Embassy in Africa which was under threat of a Benghazi-style siege.
That's just one of the potential military uses for Elon Musk's SpaceX company Starship. The document relates to the 2020 cooperation agreement between SpaceX and US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM).
Nonetheless, it remains on the wish list as Starships is not yet ready for actual operation. TRANSCOM partnering with SpaceX in October 2020 is already public knowledge, as the US military actually announced it at the time.
Officially, the US Department of Defense wants the ability to move the payload equivalent of a C-17, just under 80 tonnes, or one M1 Abrams tank, "anywhere in the world in under an hour." As it turns out, the Pentagon has additional ambitions, according to a "part-time report" on the program obtained by the Intercept through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and published Monday.
Quoted from RT.com, the military's Starship Fleet can provide an alternative method of logistics delivery in the Pacific, or send a collection of shelters, vehicles, construction equipment, and other equipment anywhere in the world in a short period of time, allowing the US Air Force to establish air bases. .
A third imaginary scenario, entitled "Embassy Support" that envisages "rapid theatrical live delivery capability" from the US to embassies in Africa, could potentially involve "rapid reaction forces." "A mere demonstration of such capabilities could deter non-state actors from aggressive action against the United States," the military statement said.
While the report itself makes no such comparisons, the scenario overlaps somewhat with the attack on the US compound in Benghazi, Libya. During the attack in Benghazi, an ambassador and three security contractors were killed on September 11, 2012 as they waited for rescue troops who never arrived.
While SpaceX has yet to comment on the story, TRANSCOM spokesman John Ross told the Intercept that the military believes a rocket-deployed rapid reaction force will "probably within the next 5-10 years." Starship is still in the experimental stage.
The first successful landing of the prototype took place only in May 2021, after a series of tests that ended in a fiery explosion. In addition to the technical challenges, Musk is also dealing with federal bureaucracy and the process of obtaining permits to launch tests from SpaceX's south Texas facility.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave SpaceX environmental approval early last week, but in order to get a full approval license, the company would need to prepare a "Mexico War historical context report" and fulfill another 74 requests, according to National Geographic. Even so, the FAA license will only cover ten launches in a year. In addition, authorities fear SpaceX does not have a "strong safety culture," according to an FAA report leaked in June 2021.