As much as I'm sure his piece on The Rabid Bat, will arouse a strong reaction in my friend Professor Hale, I can't resist sharing this tid bit.
Squabbling over specifications immediately began. Lockheed-Martin and Boeing Military Aircraft, both expected to bid, wanted a cruising speed of Mach 13, as this was technically impossible and would allow them to do lucrative design work until the entropic death of the solar system. A time-honored principle of governmental contraction is that if you are paid to solve a problem, the last thing you want is to succeed, because you then stop getting paid. This explains the anti-ballistic-missile program, racial policy, and Congress.
The matter of social consciousness arose. Half of fighter pilots were women, as prescribed by law in 2016. To facilitate gender equity, a bracket in the pilot´s seat was mandated, to hold a telephone book for the flier to sit on so she could see out the windshield. Since many pilots were single moms, the design included a drop-down changing table in the cockpit.
Give the story a read. It's funny, in a laugh to keep from crying sort of way.
Fred's funny. But it's apparent he doesn't understand arms races. If you're going to defend yourself, you need to fight. If you're going to fight, you need to fight to win. To win, you need the best edge over your opponent you can get; as soon as he catches up technologically, you lose that edge. It's that simple.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese, the Russians, and a few other countries already have fifth-generation fighters in the pipeline, on par with our F-22 and F-35 aircraft. The F-35 is barely coming off the production line, and already the Air Force is looking ahead at the next generation of fighter.
Fred also omitted a complete category of other names for aircraft: weather-related phenomena (P-38 Lightning, F-35 Lightning II, B-45 Tornado, P-47 Thunderbolt, A-10 Thunderbolt II, CH-148 Cyclone, Hawker Hurricane). In that vein, I propose that the next production fighter be nicknamed "Hellstorm", if the list of capabilities in that article is accurate.
So you air force guys stick together?
ReplyDeleteNot really -- the same principal applies to Navy ships and subs, and ground forces weaponry and armor, too, IMO.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to send men off to get shot at, you'd better give them the best equipment that money can buy. It won't save all of them, but it will save some of them.
Of course, it'd be best not to send them off on fool's errands, at all. But that's not really the Nature of Man, is it?
I concur that advancements in arms are needed in order to stay ahead of possible enemies. However I'm of the opinion that there is probably a more economic way to produce those advances.
ReplyDeleteYes. Nationalize the defense industry.
ReplyDelete*snicker*