Scott Ferrin wrote in message . ..
On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 21:23:08 GMT, "breyfogle"
wrote:

The F-101 produces enough thrust for Mach 1.2 to 1.25 and the shock is
stable somewhere in the inlet ducting.

It sounds like you're missing the point. The F101 has enough power to
take the B-1 to Mach 2.2 and had done so prior to the inlet redesign.
Since the inlet redesign it can't go there anymore. Period. More
thrust isn't going to get you a higher top speed. More thrust
(particularly dry thrust) will get you more speed for a given weight
but if the inlets weren't an issue they'd have been fixed from the
start or else a clean B-1B would still be able to hit Mach 2+. It
can't.

*ponders* I wonder if there's any new "lessons learned" data from
F-22/35 development that might permit another inlet redesign on the
Bone. The AF might be able to both get the speed and stay stealthy
with a new, more sophisticated inlet design based on the technology
and experience they've gained in the past ten years or so.