Another use for Quantum mechanics in warfare.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitzur–Vaidman_bomb_tester

Problem
Consider a collection of bombs, of which some are duds. Suppose each usable (non-dud) bomb has a photon-triggered sensor, which will absorb an incident photon and detonate the bomb. Dud bombs have no sensor, so do not interact with the photons.[3] Thus, the dud bomb will not detect the photon and will not detonate. Is it possible to detect if a bomb is a non-dud without detonating it? Is it possible to determine that some bombs are non-duds without detonating all of them?

 

Stealth is not required if you can fly higher and faster than your adversary. Nobody ever touched an SR-71 and they overflew numerous sensitive areas.

Hi,

That's a very interesting view because if they are actually in space they are not violating any air space, cause there is no air to violate
And i suppose there is a borderline that would be considered not airspace too, even though not entirely outside of the atmosphere.

 

Hi,

That's a very interesting view because if they are actually in space they are not violating any air space, cause there is no air to violate
And i suppose there is a borderline that would be considered not airspace too, even though not entirely outside of the atmosphere.

They couldn't technically be in space because the SR-71 is only an air breather. These things have been considered in overflight treaties and agreements.

 

They couldn't technically be in space because the SR-71 is only an air breather. These things have been considered in overflight treaties and agreements.

Hi,

Well i didnt mean that craft, just any craft that could go into space. A satellite would be an example but perhaps a manned or unmanned craft that actual can move around freely like the space shuttle.

 

Hi,

That's a very interesting view because if they are actually in space they are not violating any air space, cause there is no air to violate
And i suppose there is a borderline that would be considered not airspace too, even though not entirely outside of the atmosphere.

So AFAIK, "Controlled Airspace" in the Continental US ends at 60,000 feet. The SR-71 would cruise at 75,000 to 85,000 feet although its actual ceiling may be higher and still be classified.

 

So AFAIK, "Controlled Airspace" in the Continental US ends at 60,000 feet. The SR-71 would cruise at 75,000 to 85,000 feet although its actual ceiling may be higher and still be classified.

Whether the airspace is controlled or not has nothing to do with whether it is sovereign. If that weren't the case, then it would be legal for spy planes to operate over much of the United States as long as they stayed below 700' AGL (higher in many places). The notion of "controlled airspace" has primarily to do with safety of flight, though security considerations do play a role in some local and low-level instances.

The vertical limit of air sovereignty has not been established, largely because there is has never really been a pressing practical need to do so. It's generally agreed that all nations have sovereignty in the airspace above their lands and territorial waters -- the horizontal boundaries are very well established, though sometimes disputed -- and it's also agreed that no nation has sovereignty over space. But where that transition occurs has never been defined. Suggestions have ranged from 30 km (~FL100) to 160 km (~62 miles). Since this range is essentially above the highest balloons and air-breathers but below the lowest stable orbits, about the only operations that occur there are launching or returning spacecraft and those operations are very transient and the flight paths are determined by the oribital parameters and are thus of virtually no value for reconnaissance gathering.

I doubt this will change until some nation starts launching/recovering spacecraft that puts them in that window over the U.S., Russia, China, or possibly a few others on a regular basis. That list would not seem to include Canada since the U.S. specifically and rather pointedly never requested overflight permission for returning shuttle flights even when they dropped below the 50 mile boundary above which the U.S. declares a human to be an "astronaut" (though this again would be a definition that serves one purpose unrelated to sovereignty, it's just the closest basis there happens to be for gauging what the U.S.'s thoughts are on the matter).

 

It is true that the notion of "controlled airspace" as a proxy for sovereign airspace is imperfect. I suspect that any sub orbital incursion would provoke a response from the US, Russia, and China. Given the ubiquity of advanced weapon systems it would not surprise me if other countries were prepared to attempt intercept and shootdown. Like many other activities it is all about what you can get away with.

 

Like many other activities it is all about what you can get away with.

Yup, there are conventions and then there are practical realities. Putin, for one, clearly knows the difference.

 

Yup, there are conventions and then there are practical realities. Putin, for one, clearly knows the difference.

When it come to pushing the limits the only difference between us and them is we keep the event classified.

 

Well, we haven't annexed any countries lately.

 

Well, we haven't annexed any countries lately.

We just like to buy them, it's so much less messy.