Steamrunner, Norway, and Saber Class.......what's the point?

[Mikey]

Over there it's called "we never had one".

Completely false. BA and Air France fly out of the US routinely.

[Captain Seafort]

Nope - aircraft operated by BA and AF routinely leave the US, but the term "fly out of" implies that it's an operating base.[/nitpicking the nitpick]

[Mikey]

Really? I took the term "fly out of" to mean... well, "fly out of."

[Tsukiyumi]

Okay, the point is, who's operating one now?

Nobody.

[stitch626]

Airbus wanted to produce one, but they hit a wall a few years ago. Haven't heard anything since.

[Mark]

I'd imagine they are very cost prohibitive.

[Tsukiyumi]

I'd imagine they are very cost prohibitive.

Which could be the same reason tech in 'Trek seems to stagnate.

[Mark]

You may be onto something......................

[Mikey]

I'd imagine they are very cost prohibitive.

Which could be the same reason tech in 'Trek seems to stagnate.

I see it more as kind of a terminal velocity in progression. You can refine warp drive, for example, from the pre-NX type up to the Prommie - but it's all still based on generating warp plasma from an M/AM reactor and funneling it into warp coils to create a subspace field. Until some discovery is made about another way to move a ship FTL, any advancement will just be refinements to the same tech - and such a discovery will not be a normal product of research in the field of current-style warp drive.