Supersonic/Hypersonic Attack
Aircraft
Source: Air Force 2025
The SHAAFT (Supersonic/Hypersonic Attack AircraFT) is an
airborne weapons system designed for operational use in the year 2025.
It is capable of putting munitions on target, anywhere in the world,
within four hours after takeoff. It is a direct result of the defined
mission requirements of Global Reach/Global Power and specifically,
Global Force Projection. The SHAAFT can fight and win two major
regional conflicts simultaneously. It also complies with the current
force draw
down in which the majority of all US military forces will be based in
the continental United States (CONUS). Flight line operations would
require cryogenic support for the fuel needs of SHAAFT. It cruises to
and from the target at mach 12 and at 100,000 feet. It is a completely
reusable vehicle, like most USAF aircraft. The SHAAFT will deploy
various weapons to destroy nearly any type of essential enemy target,
dependent on real-time battlefield information or existing
intelligence data to destroy targets. The SHAAFT will also serve as
the base component to accomplishing in-theater dominance with the
SHMAC and access to space with the SCREMAR.
The goal of the SHAAFT is to cause enough destruction
and chaos in the first hours of a conflict such that the enemy
realizes war is a futile choice. The enemy is then crippled and nearly
defenseless against subsequent attacks from conventional forces in a
protracted war. It would also serve as an extremely effective
deterrent force, since the enemy would know that any military movement
could be utterly upset if not completely destroyed within a matter of
hours from its discovery.
But unlike conventional aircraft, the hypersonic flight regime makes
SHAAFT a difficult, and therefore highly survivable, target.
A hypothetical attack scheme consists of five SHAAFTs,
dispensing nearly 50 hypersonic, precision strike, cruise missiles,
for example, SHMACs. These would hit vital targets such as command,
control, and communications facilities (C3I network), power centers,
transportation hubs, and potential space launch complexes. This attack
alone would not cripple an advanced country’s war machine, but it
would severely disrupt their war-fighting operations to the point that
they are no
longer able to immediately continue any operations. Within hours of
the initiation of hostilities, the enemy’s infrastructure would be in
shambles with their ground forces unable to communicate, maneuver, or
fight a coordinated battle. The hostiles would then be unable to
defend themselves against conventional military forces.
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/usaf/2025/v3c12/v3c12-2.htm