Ramjet/Scramjet Propulsion on a Vertical Rocket?

[onion3000]

Is it possible (practical/efficient) to utilize ramjet (or scramjet) on a vertical rocket? By this I mean would it be at all practical to make a vertically traveling rocket which partially uses ramjet as a method of propulsion, or is there some property of ramjet propulsion that makes this intrinsically impossible?

 

[boneh3ad]

It would work but isn't practical at this point. Since air-breathing propulsion would only work for a small slice of the vertical journey, it generally has meant their added dead weight isn't worth the potential benefits. It had been an engineering goal for a while to implement such an idea, though, ideally on a single stage to orbit space plane.