Wow, I still can't over the size of this puppy. And that's just the fairing!
Has anyone figured out what Space Force would move with this thing? Heck, or even what AMC would move with this thing?
What-ever they contracted through SpaceX to move of course
Unless I missed a significant change in planned operations SpaceX is the only ones that will be flying Starship/Super-Heavy. There's a lot less incentive for SpaceX to 'sell' Starships, specifically to the Space Force and there's not many reasons for them to buy them either.
East coast to Tokyo in 40 minutes. West coast to RAAF Tindal in 40 minutes. It's got to be close to the same to Singapore and the PI. That's transformational. Or perhaps one would forward deploy material in orbiting Starships. Ready to land anywhere in the world at a moments notice. The world will become a very small place.
You forgot to put the "off-the-coast-of-..." in those origins and destinations
The word more better suited to such operations is "disruptive" unless it's well outside standard transportation zones of the places going to/from. Such disruptions are taken-in-stride if once a month, annoying if once a week, intolerably any more often. Point-to-Point suborbital travel has been studied quite often and the biggest sticking point
Imagine a Grenada like event where we need ground-pounders on site, NOW.
For starters there are very few events where we need them "there" specifically "now" and if that's the case then if they are NOT "there" specifically "now" then even 40 minutes is likely to be too late. Worse they won't BE there in only 40 minutes. They could launch, (in theory) within a few hours but more likely it would take 12 to 24 hours just to get everything in place and ready to go. (This is where 'parking' in orbit has advantages as long as you have enough orbital infrastructure to keep the 'standby' vehicles in ready-to-go order with either 'generic' troop loads or someplace like an orbital depot you can pull from)
Of course they STILL don't 'go' till someone else, (Navy/Marines or Air Force) gets there with enough air-and-local power to suppress any air defense assets and frankly down to making sure a jeep or technically mounted HMG can't get within two miles of the landing site, (also securing/marking/prepping those landing sites) AND all that support has to pull out before the Starships come down so the utility of landing the Starships anywhere NEAR the combat zone are essentially nil. (Yes this was a major issue they never resolved with Ithacus and Ithacus Jr., and yes they did come up with a use but it wasn't what most people think
)
Some ass-hole regional government takes some American students hostage, and 'wham' three starships show up, unannounced, doing only what can be described as the 'Adama maneuver', land, disgorge the troops, who proceed to stomp said regional government thugs into the ground.
Space Force, indeed!
David
Honorary Space Cadet
1) Why would you assume they were 'unannounced'?
They'd be visible on any space tracking radar, IR tracker and frankly air traffic radar so you're assuming those on the receiving end have no 'friends' that can pass on information and locally lack any means of seeing them coming? Then there is the prep time to launch and the likely possibility that's can't be hidden very well if said "friends" assets extend to something/one around the launch site. (Again here's where orbital standby has some advantages if you're willing to spend the money too do it) Oh and since we'd have to announce we were launching, (while the Cold War may be over there is still a lot of missiles out there just waiting) it's not like it will remain a secret for very long and with communications as they are the "reciever" may know before our own in-place forces do.
2) Landing WHERE exactly? These things are not going to be able to set down in a parking lot, (or sports stadium really) so they won't be near any urban area. Neither are air or sea ports really a viable landing site given the usual amount of volatilizes that tend to be around those places. So it's likely to be somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, with little pre-landing survey and far less support than landing at a spaceport. Possible? Of course, they are planning such for the Mars and maybe the Moon BUT there are a lot of factors that THOSE landings won't be dealing with that these likely will...
3) "Disgorging" troops? Opening the payload by and having them base-jump out? (In full kit?) Taking the elevator a squad or two at a time? (Not like THAT is an invitation to get raked with rifle and MG fire) And speaking of which, two guys and portable motor or RPG load out and the entire vehicle is toast. As it is a squad of Op-For with rifles can render you vehicle so much junk with a couple a mags each. (Of course the landing vehicles are likely scrap anyway, how do you service them and get them back to base considering you likely had to land in the middle of nowhere in the first place?) And you'll be spending most of the time simply securing the landing zone so you CAN unload your equipment such as heavy weapons and ammunition.. If you strip THAT down you nothing but light infantry and likely outgunned and out-numbered and you're tied to you LZ(s) which can't be all that close due to the size and power of the Starship's. Which means you can be surrounded and isolated unless you move quickly after landing which you can't do given the size and complexity of loading and unloading a Starship sized, vertical vehicle.
There's more really, a LOT more. I'd suggest reading some of the Hot Eagle stuff on here and other forums to get an idea of how complicated and likely un-workable the concept is. Specifically using a Starship as a lander. As has been noted the concept isn't new and has been studied extensively and to be perfectly honest the most LIKELY use of a ballistic transport such as this is NOT as a first in transport but a 'fast-package' transport and most concepts end up being expendable simply because "turn-around" capability is near nil..
Point-to-Point passenger and cargo service at the very least has some possible utility and justification, (and even then not as much as many think due to how it would operate and what restrictions it would face) as an alternative use for Starship's that would normally be sitting idle between more dedicated space and orbital missions. Delivering troops and equipment to a combat zone does not.
Randy