Pentagon envisions spaceship troops

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon wants to rocket troops through space to hot spots anywhere on the globe within two hours, and planners spent two days last month discussing how to do it, military documents show.

Civilian and military officials held a two-day conference at the National Security Space Office to plan development of the Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion (SUSTAIN) program. The invitation to the conference called the notion of space troopers a "potential revolutionary step in getting combat power to any point in the world in a timeframe unachievable today." Attendees included senior Army, Marine, Navy and Air Force officers.

The next steps toward getting troops in space: addressing the technological challenges and seeking input from the military, said Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Brown, a space office spokesman. No further meetings have been scheduled.

Marines launched the concept after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. They needed the "capability to transport small, mission-tailored units through space from any point on the globe to a contingency at any other point on the globe" within minutes of an order, according to a Marine document.

Some critics are skeptical. The concept defies physics and the reality of what a small number of lightly armed troops could accomplish in enemy territory, said John Pike, a military analyst who runs Globalsecurity.org.

"This isn't even science fiction," Pike said. "It's fantasy."

Private rocket pioneer Burt Rutan says the plan is technologically possible. Rutan's SpaceShipOne was the first privately financed vehicle to carry people into space. It won the $10 million "X Prize" in 2004 for flying into space twice in five days.

"This has never been done," Rutan said in an e-mail. "However, it is feasible. It would be a relatively expensive way to get the troops on the ground, but it could be done."

Terrorist threats to the United States, according to a statement of need from the Marines in July 2002, can emerge quickly anywhere in the world. A nearly instantaneous response from a small contingent of troops could snuff them out. Rocketship forces could also rescue troops trapped behind enemy lines.