Following this thread with some interest from the antipodes.
A country with red earth and hopping animals...
That'd be one of the places that would benefit if this engine and the A2 design ever became a reality.
Can you imagine how life would change if it was possible to commute say London - Sydney in 4 hours?
I am by no means rich but I'd fork out $10,000 to fly just once on the thing - Mach 5 - that's a mile a second, people - X15 speed.
Imagine the economic multiplier effects to business, industry etc.
I would have thought $12bn would have been a relatively small development cost to pay for such paradigm changing technology - about the price of the A380?
From what you all seem to be saying though - the Sabre/Scimitar design appears to be a long pursued pipe-dream.
Are there any engineers following this thread who can offer a reasoned assessment of whether this thing will ever fly?
Excuse my naivety, but personally I hope I live long enough to see the world's population able to commute at speeds internationally as they do domestically at the moment.
Work the week in New York, and Friday night, commute home to Aussie for the weekend...