IMO just a WAG - is eventually a manned or umanned(or both - eg manned and unmanned being optional on a single aircraft) scramjet powered fighter-bomber that has the ability to fly up out of the atmosphere temporarily above a target and drop precision guided munitions with very low radar cross section and extremely high velocity(wouldn’t even have to be powered- let gravity + aerodynamics do the work.. just think an unpowered, so no heat signature(lemme take that back- it’s actually gonna be quite hot due to the insane velocities and even small amounts of drag would have it quite hot but still..), stealth munition dropped from just outside the atmosphere.. the velocity would be enormous + very low RCS) from space/just a bit above atmosphere while over the target.. then re-enter the atmosphere but still at extremely high altitude and zoom away from target area at Mach 9+ at the edge of space.. Such an aircraft and munition described would be extremely difficult to intercept by any currently known of SAMs.
I also wonder why engine types we could have had operational at the same timeframe the F22 was being fielded or even before, ain’t being used.
en.m.wikipedia.org
Basically build a fighter and/or bomber with such ^^ an engine - which is a turbojet and ramjet combined into 1 engine. The turbojet is used to bring it up to speed, then at a certain velocity the compressor section is bypassed and the air compression is achieved like a standard ramjet. Turbofans have taken over nowadays rightfully so, but I don’t see why you couldn’t do the same with a turbofan?
This would give us fighters/fighter-bombers with Mach 3.5(+) cruising speeds.
To give you an idea - the SR-71 engine had some similarities to a turbo ramjet as I understand it(correct me if wrong).
www.thegatewaypundit.com
