Nothalogh

Too bad they did the abort after Max-Q, I had thought they would do it right at that point

Yes, the scientific discovery that the press is composed of amoral greedy blowhards, willing to opine on any matter as though they were some sort of genius-demigods, has been a long time coming.

More like barely able to overcome the drag of its own intake.

It's gonna be less efficient, but yeah, it would sorta work. You could definitely build a ramjet with electric heat, it just won't have a very good TWR

Seeing the title, I thought this involved the launching of French politicians

Yes, this would be a thermal ramjet, you can do the same with a turbine engine as well, just replace the combustors with heat exchangers.

I've been saying this for a couple of years now

Because it's a way to flex on the competition

No doubt, but it still stands that the R-7 is one of the most impressive launchers of the entire history of spaceflight

It seems unfair, and that's an understatement, to judge the R-7 from only 2010 onwards

Good old semyorka, the B-52 of rockets

Orbit to Surface to Orbit is a hell of a challenge

I already know more. The MI rides in on single use entry pods, exfil is via a dropship of some sort. The question is could you land a mostly fueled starship?

No, for moving personnel and their immediate equipment into theater faster than any other method

Sweet jesus, you guys really missed the point. The point is to utilize such technology to rapidly deploy personnel and gear from a stateside location to a forward operating facility, just a whole hell of a lot faster than riding in a C-17. Once in theater, the personnel and gear would be transferred to conventional air, land, and or sea vehicles for the completion of the intended mission.