Thanks for all the fascinating (and entertaining) replies so far, sorry mine has been so delayed. For clarification the ‘hero’ will definitely not be piloting – at this point in the book he/she is a relatively unwilling but more or less cooperative civilian scientist with little or no idea why the USAF is so keen for them to get to Alaska without delay, so if any kind of specialised outfitting, training or prior experience is essential (as opposed to preferred) to just sit in the aircraft it probably won’t work.

To go into a little bit more detail, time and therefore speed is absolutely crucial to this portion of the plot. The main character is being flown likely from somewhere in Pasadena, probably by an LAPD AS350, to Edwards – a flight of roughly twenty minutes as best I can tell. Assuming Edwards are alerted at the same time while adding in the time it takes for the USAF to contact the LAPD, get the AS350 airborne, fly to Pasadena, land and pick up the confused main character, Edwards likely have about half an hour to get something ready to fly within a couple of minutes of the AS350 touching down. Alternatively if there’s ultimately not much difference in sustainable speed I may just have the AS350 drop the main character off at a commercial airfield next to a Cessna Citation X or Gulfstream G650 the USAF have commandeered for the occasion.

Roughly what kind of speed could the B-1B and F-15D/E maintain for the entire flight beyond their official cruising speeds? As previously mentioned neither aircraft can sustain supersonic speeds for the whole flight – but what speed might they be able to attain and maintain (assuming ideal altitude and performance and that it doesn’t really matter if the aircraft collapses into a pile of burning wreckage after it lands so long as the scientist character arrives as quickly and safely as possible)? Aside from dramatic impact the main reason I am looking at using a military jet is because I am assuming that combat aircraft and crews are inherently better equipped for being rapidly prepped for flight as well as being pushed beyond their normal performance envelope.

The main focus of the book will push suspension of disbelief a bit far so I want to make as much of the rest as realistic, grounded and factually accurate as possible (or at least as realistic as the US government stuffing a terrified scientist into a fast jet and lobbing them towards Alaska at breakneck speed can ever be). That said, my one concession to my own “no proposed/retired/hypothetical aircraft” rule is that I am considering having a B-1 variant feature in a pivotal role later in the book (something extremely similar to the proposed B-1R with F119 engines so it is at least close to being a real world aircraft – also, I am working on the assumption that this would be capable of supercruise) but with a very different mission and only after the main character has arrived at Elmendorf as it is directly related to the nature and location of the crisis.

Once again, thanks for any and all answers that have or will be provided, this is greatly appreciated.