An interesting concept for America's nuclear deterrent recently emerged on the Internet. A former employee for a US defense contractor describes an idea to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles from midair…using a civilian jetliner. The idea was ultimately shelved, but is reminiscent of a current DoD program for conventional weapons.

According to the post on The Unwanted Blog the author, was an employee for Orbital ATK , a San Jose-based defense contractor specializing in rockets and missiles. The author came across some Powerpoint presentations of a concept developed with another defense contractor, BAE, for turning a 747 into a nuclear missile carrier.

The concept isn't exactly new—back in the 1970s and 1980s, there were also proposals to equip 747s with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The jetliners would have been a cheaper alternative to the B-1B Lancer strategic bomber, then under development. Ultimately the B-1B won out, and the 747 stayed in firmly in the civilian camp.

Orbital ATK's concept, however, was slightly bolder. The concept was to put actual ICBMs in vertical launch tubes along the spine of a 747. The missiles would be launched "hot"—that is, they would ignite inside of the aircraft. That's a dicey proposition, but ATK reckoned they had it all figured out .

Is it an absolutely insane idea? Maybe not. Currently the U.S. has 450 Minuteman III ICBMs sprinkled across the Great Plains and Midwest, tucked away in hardened missile silos nestled among cornfields and farm land. In order to strike those missiles, an enemy would need to directly attack the US homeland, killing millions of civilians and irradiating millions of acres of fertile land.

The U.S. is currently looking to replace the Minuteman III with the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program. With the new missiles comes an opportunity to base them somewhere else—preferably away from America's breadbasket. Placing them in a 747 would do that but—assuming each Minuteman III is replaced on a 1 to 1 basis—you'd need at least 150 747s to carry enough missiles.

The concept is also similar to the Department of Defense's " Arsenal Plane ". The concept is to use a large aircraft—such as B-52 or 747—and pack it to the gills with conventional weapons such as cruise missiles and other standoff weapon systems. Stealthy aircraft such as the F-35 or F-22 could then provide targeting data to the Arsenal Plane, which would use long-range weapons to stay away from air defenses let loose on the target.

H/t Reddit

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