In 2019, the U.S. Space Command awarded The Lightcraft Project at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a multi-year development contract to construct a hyper-energetic, 12 person transatmospheric vehicle designed for the aerospace superiority role. The nature and patterns of global skirmishes ('brush fires') had evolved in fundamental ways, and demanded a new class of aerospacecraft that were as much 'at home' in space, as in the Earth's atmosphere.

In this era, the existence of large space assets and availability of space power, beamed from Earth orbiting power stations with laser and/or microwave transmitters can be assumed. The Lightcraft Team determined that the ultra-energetic nature of this mission ruled out the use of conventional chemical propulsion systems, which are not sufficiently energetic by a prohibitive margin. Hence, beamed-energy propulsion appeared especially suited for the ambitious mission.

The transatmospheric, beam-powered vehicle (hereafter called a 'lightcraft') must necessarily incorporate several design features to facilitate this covert mission.