Documents / Official release
This Defense Intelligence Reference Document, dated 8 March 2010, was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports. It surveys the history of space access concepts, covering hypersonic gliders, air-breathing and rocket propulsion, materials, launch options and operating costs. The report argues that reliable, schedulable access to low Earth orbit is mainly a hardware and organizational problem rather than a technology problem.
From the source: Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 3/8/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD is a historical and conceptual survey of space access systems, contending that the main barrier to routine access to space is a failure to build durable, reliable, operational hardware and the supporting infrastructure needed for regular service to and from low Earth orbit. The report reviews earlier launch and aerospace concepts, especially reusable and aircraft-like approaches, and suggests that U.S. space access development became too strongly centered on expendable rockets derived from ballistic missiles rather than bespoke systems designed for repeated space access and payload delivery. Its central claim is that meaningful future progress will depend on creating a purpose-built space transportation infrastructure, including frequent round-trip capability and orbital support networks, rather than continuing to rely on one-off launch vehicles. Overall, the document presents a forceful case for infrastructure-first space development, though its characterization of past technological choices is more assertive than a fully neutral account of past U.S. space programming.
UNCLASSIFIED/ JFOR OFFICIJltL YSE 8PUslf Rocket Powered Hypersonic Glider Combined Cycle Airbreather Powered Hypersonic Cruiser Figure 4. Hypersonic Rocket-Powered Glider and Hypersonic Air-Breathing Cruiser The second configuration is for air-breathing propulsion systems operating at between mach 6 and mach 14 that require a propulsion-configured vehicle, where the underside of the vehicle is an integral part of the propulsion system (forming most of the air capturing inlet). This is typified by the lower-right vehicle in Figure 4. The thermally integrated, air-breathing, combined-cycle configuration concept is derived from the McDonnell Douglas (St. Louis) Advanced Design organization. The vehicle concept initially conceived in the late 1950s and early 1960s was an air-breathing propulsion configured vehicle accelerated by a main rocket in the aft end of the body, as shown in Figure 3. The vehicle's underside is the propulsion system; the engine is in the engine module. Both basic shapes are functions of tau-that is, for a given planform area, the cross sectional distribution is determined by the volume required. Tau was reported in D. Kuchemann's book on supersonic aerodynamics 6 as: V'C = total (1)s1.5 plan The only configuration discussed in the book in any detail is the rocket-powered hypersonic glider. The hypersonic glider has greater near-term potential to become an operational system, considering the failure of the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) to reach a functional hardware stage. UNCLASSIFIED/ /FOR OFFICIO! 1!SE Ql!L¥ 4
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 56 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.