"Spacex as strategic transport" Topic

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If it can send a colony to Mars it can put an armored division anywhere on the globe.

I think the key word in your post was "if".

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Perhaps said soldiers could take a Tesla. Oh, wait a minute:

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Might be better to walk.

Bad 1950s science fiction.

Well they would have to completely redesign Starship to be able to transport a tank and then deploy it after landing. There were some interesting designs suggested in the 70's. Looked like some of the BattleTech dropships.

Also give some thought to defending them as they are in flight. They are basically flying like a ballistic missile, but has to slow down when landing, instead of crashing into its target. It would be a lovely target for most ABM systems.

Micman +1, IIRC there was a 1990s DOD "what if" paper from the SDIO that used SSTOs for rapid intervention with platoons of SpecOps – launch from CONUS to orbital refueling stop, landing at DMZ target zone on Earth, launch back to orbital refueling depot and then landing in CONUS.

Take it from someone who has licked the first Falcon 9 to recover: this guy is laughably ignorant of landing requirements. The fuel load needed to land with a heavy payload is staggering.

The rockets for NASA's Apollo program were basically the same as the ICBMs. There is no real distinction between civilian and military functions.

The presumption of the OP is that Musk develops a capability to get massive amounts of people and material to MARS.

GIVEN THAT, the military applications are obvious.

One may well be skeptical of the Mars assumption, but isn't it just a matter of time, assuming the will?

A matter of time…like most sci-fi.
We could equally consider Star Trek-like transporters.

Ochoin, do you think we will see men on Mars in the next decade?

I prefer not to stoop to baseless speculation.

One may well be skeptical of the Mars assumption, but isn't it just a matter of time, assuming the will?

Ah, the Triumph of the Will!
Or, as Tom Lehrer sings in "Fight Fiercely, Harvard!"
"Albeit they, possess the skill
Nonetheless we have the will!"
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I designed a bunch of military vehicles in the 6th Grade. Most were as plausible as this.

Well, the latest Space X test flight did not go well today. Mars flight may be delayed a few decades.

Tort, read Boorstin's chapters on Prince Henry and the Portuguese in THE DISCOVERERS. No setback is permanent nor even significant in that sort of linear exploration project.

Doc, notice I used the word "delayed". This does not mean permanent. Delayed is likely. I read Boorstin a while ago. But I expect it will be quite some time before anyone gets to Mars…given the issues coming to a boil here.

Where there's a whip there's a way!

Or, to quote Burgoyne's artillery commander, where a goat can go, a man can go, and where a man can go, he can drag a gun.

Mules and men aren't the same as a huge rocket that blows up all the time.

"Dear Mrs McCauley. I regret to tell you that your son got blowed up real good when he and his entire company were deploying to Communist Oggaboogaland and his unreliable rocket exploded. There were no survivors."

Doc, please stop singing "High Hopes". It's like telling Stephen Hawking that he could climb Mount Everest, if he really put his mind to it.

Yeah Doc! NASA never had any explosions!

What?…. Oh 🤯! OK Thanks …. sorry Doc….. never mind. 😉