From: sungjunnoh0802@gmail.com   
      
   In a future world where air to air combat aircraft are equipped with nuclear   
   thermal ramjets or "more conventional" scramjets, they could potentially   
   outperform modern missiles. Missiles had difficulty intercepting "even" an   
   SR-71. Current missiles such    
   as the AIM-120 AMRAAM can achieve only around mach 5. So, we need a way to   
   drive missiles faster, potentially with two methods:   
      
   -Two stage rocket-scramjet missile   
   A rocket would be used to get a scramjet up to operational speeds where the   
   missile would fly at close to mach 10. However, the two-staged nature of such   
   a design would make it larger and more cumbersome, limiting aircraft use and   
   increase maintenance.    
   It might work for surface-based systems however.   
      
   -Metallic Hydrogen   
   Instead of using regular solid  (or liquid) fuels, the missile would use   
   metallic hydrogen (assuming it is metastable at normal temps/pressures). Using   
   pure metallic hydrogen probably will require a magnetic bottle or a massive   
   cooling system, not very    
   practical for an aircraft-mounted missile. Using a mixture of something else   
   for lower temps and more thrust may be beneficial.   
      
   What do you guys think?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)