lazybones,
Exactly my thoughts when I first saw the picture. That's why I think this is really going to happen.
Zeke,
Thanks for all that.
I guess that the fancy lift devices are going to add plenty of weight.
I've read before that the air flowing into a turbojet (or turbofan) must be slowed to subsonic speeds. I never knew why, until now.
I seem to remember that the cone-shaped nozzle on the SR71 is adjustable, fore and aft, to allow the position of the shockwave to be matched against the airspeed. True?
Seeing as the SR71 was designed to accelerate to, and cruise at, Mach 3, why has Boeing shoved similar intakes onto their 'almost sonic' design? Something pretty that the artist thought up? Or an important part of the design?