The Commanche and the Albatross

A place to talk about all things military, paramilitary, tactical, strategic, and logistical.
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Cobar
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Re: The Commanche and the Albatross

Post by Cobar »

I really don't think that the people with control of the purse strings have any clue as to what reality looks like.
Greg
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Re: The Commanche and the Albatross

Post by Greg »

Cobar wrote:I really don't think that the people with control of the purse strings have any clue as to what reality looks like.
What reason do they have to care?
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
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Jericho941
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Re: The Commanche and the Albatross

Post by Jericho941 »

Well, out of sentimentality, we've kept an entire branch of the military around despite the fact that it was already showing its obsolescence as a concept during WW2. Sanity doesn't really have much to do with the defense budget.
Cobar
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Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:23 pm

Re: The Commanche and the Albatross

Post by Cobar »

Greg wrote:
Cobar wrote:I really don't think that the people with control of the purse strings have any clue as to what reality looks like.
What reason do they have to care?
I sure many don't care. MY point was that even the ones that do can have all the briefings they want, they still won't get it. They are political animals not technical.
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Jericho941
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Re: The Commanche and the Albatross

Post by Jericho941 »

skb12172 wrote:Another Billy Mitchell?
Billy Mitchell would be all over the F-35, and he probably would've arranged something unpleasant for Gates to protect F-22 production.
Greg
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Re: The Commanche and the Albatross

Post by Greg »

Cobar wrote:
Greg wrote:
Cobar wrote:I really don't think that the people with control of the purse strings have any clue as to what reality looks like.
What reason do they have to care?
I sure many don't care. MY point was that even the ones that do can have all the briefings they want, they still won't get it. They are political animals not technical.
Apparently you didn't get it. They don't care, and they *won't* care no matter how much we might want them to, because the people in charge of the money have no incentive to care what reality looks like. If they had reason to learn, they would learn.
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
Langenator
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Re: The Commanche and the Albatross

Post by Langenator »

Jericho941 wrote:
skb12172 wrote:Another Billy Mitchell?
Billy Mitchell would be all over the F-35, and he probably would've arranged something unpleasant for Gates to protect F-22 production.
IIRC, the big thing for Mitchell and his intellectual progeny in the Army Air Corps was strategic bombers, because they better justified a separate Air Force. Don't recall his opinions on pursuit/fighter planes.

What would also be interesting would have been his opinion on the YF-22 (more maneuverable, better 'production plan') vs the YF-23 (faster, much longer range). (My opinion is that the AF should have gone with the F-23, which is better suited to the Pacific theater, but hindsight is 20/20.)
Fortuna Fortis Paratus
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