Neither I, or anyone else has proposed that we invest any money at all in any scheme. This whole thing started because "Uncle Peter" ignorantly ranted about how expensive and ridiculous it would be to launch sulphur into the upper atmosphere, using a Titan rocket (which no longer exists) as an (irrelevant) example of how much it would cost. I simply pointed out that if one wanted to launch sulphur into the atmosphere, this would be an insane way of doing it, and that he hadn't made an effective argument against it. The only point is that if we really wanted to do this, there are affordable ways to do it, using the types of systems already under development for space tourism and low-cost research, and they don't involve huge, expensive expendable rockets. Or non-existent mag-lev schemes or fantasy vehicles (e.g., Aurora) for which no funds have been appropriated, and for which there's no solid evidence of their existence.
What would be the design/develop/test/deploy time lines? What would be the manufacturing time for this impressive fleet of vehicles to be delivered?
Similar to that for a similar fleet of Gulfstream executive jets. Shorter and cheaper, actually, since under current regulations, they don't have to be FAA certified (they would get launch licenses, which is much simpler). People really have studied this stuff, and run the numbers, even if you haven't bothered to educate yourself.
The Aurora has been built and has been flying for over ten years. It is officially a “No Comment” subject, just as the F117 was. However, there are pictures, the “string of pearls” and many radar trackings. It is one of the worse kept secrets of the skunk works.