I think a more complicated ground facility is fine if you're doing enough flights.
I think a more complicated ground facility is fine if you're doing enough flights.
If you can launch from and land at any airfield, even if just any military airfield, absolutely. You've opened the market for point-to-point ballistic transport.
What does ICBM early warning look like in a world with point-to-point ballistic transport?
What I was getting at, is do all ICBM early warning systems sit on edge more often? That would be my assumption.
We have come close to annihilation from mistakes before, this seems like a path towards more possible mistakes.
Ballistic vehicles do not have much cross-range capability, so knowing both where they came from and where they are going is easier than with aircraft. But of course real-time human-seeming communication could be faked with good AI, and even if that were not an option I'm sure some kamakazi pilots would volunteer if necessary. Anything could be faked, but the barriers are not unsubstantial.
And, of course, MAD remains a deterrent.