HOLD EVERYTHING, TROOPS! According to the May 2, 2005 issue of Aviation Leak...er Week, Griffin is moving in the dates on both the first test flights of CEV hardware and the 2014 date of Initial Operational Capability (IOC)! He has apparently decided that NASA will act as the prime contractor/systems integrator, with industry acting as subs! Dispite this, NASA requested submittal of the proposals in time for the May 2nd deadline!<br /><br />Now, if that weren't enough to digest (or choke on!), on p 33 (the page prior to the revision of the CEV program), the USAF has $280M to fly a rocket plane demonstrator by 2010! The artist's conception and the article are like Shuttle-in-reverse, or Shuttle-inverse! The Affordable Responsive Spacelift (ARES), is intended to lift 10,000-15,000 lbs to LEO, using...are you ready for this?...a vertical takeoff and wheeled landing booster, with RP-1/LOX main engines, non-toxic propellant thrusters, and a pair of jet engines to aid in recovery at an airfield. The payload will be carried piggyback, and may consist of 1st and 3rd stage Peacekeeper rockets, or some other liquid or solid propellant rockets. The booster carries the payload to around 12,100 fps and 200,000 ft, with upper stage separation at Mach 7. This eliminates the need for the booster to have a lot of thermal protection, such as got the Shuttle in trouble. The second stage of the two upper stages, and the 3rd stage would NOT be recoverable! Oh, yeah, and by the way, the beast is intended to be launched on a 24-48 hr notice, with a 2-day turnaround for the next launch!!!<br /><br />The jets are NOT used for liftoff. The concept calls for a gross liftoff weight of 700-800K lbs, with the 15K lb. payload, for a payload fraction of 2 percent. A 1/4 scale test vehicle, called ARES-SD, which would only be suborbital, would test separation of the booster from the upper stages.<br /><br />Now, either NASA or LockMart, or somebody has been peeking at this, or something!!! The