I'm no aeronautical engineer, but...

[HTRN]

Isn't the AF experimenting with with LTA craft to use as long endurance recon drones? If they actually get to the point where they go operational, an armed version is a real possibility.

[TabascoKid]

Hog drivers are loved by Army grunts

And hated by the AF as an institution.

All the more reason to scrap the Key West Agreement. Let the Army have the ground game and let the Zoomies cover the high ground.

[Termite]

I always wanted to see modern high altitude blimps loaded with 200lb "smart" Micromunitions. Unmanned, and solar powered.

But if somebody builds that, nobody will want my rigid airship UAV-carrier!

Channeling Dean Ing, are we?

[Mike OTDP]

It was of course that STERLING mind, that made detroit as "competitive" as it was in the 70s and 80s (McNamara and his whiz kids were mostly auto executives).

Yup. Eisenhower started that trend...but Ike was qualified to do his own strategic thinking, and merely wanted a SECDEF to handle acquisition. Kennedy had the strategic acumen of a teenager. Johnson had the acumen of a five-year-old.

And MacNamara had no military acumen whatsoever. Case Study #1 in Why You Do Not Hire Harvard Business School Graduates.

[Aglifter]

As an FYI, don't hire Harvard, or Yale, lawyers either - Columbia produces some good lawyers, though.

[Rich]

Actually, Macnamera and the rest of the Whiz Kids came out of DOD before they became involved with Ford. During WWII they flew desks and analyzed data.

They really didn't grasp the big picture, wherever they went. Glorified staticians is what they were. Sometimes useful, sometimes a speedbump on the way to progress.

[randy]

I think one of the great injustices of the 20th century is that McNamara never received proper recognition by the Vietnamese people as the man, after General Giap and Ho Chi Mihn, most responsible for the victory of their Socialist Paradise.

Ya think they coulda diverted some labor at a political camp to make up a nice Hero of the Revolution or Order of Lenin type medal to send to him.

Ungrateful buggers.

[Rich]

I think one of the great injustices of the 20th century is that McNamara never received proper recognition by the Vietnamese people as the man, after General Giap and Ho Chi Mihn, most responsible for the victory of their Socialist Paradise.

Ya think they coulda diverted some labor at a political camp to make up a nice Hero of the Revolution or Order of Lenin type medal to send to him.

Ungrateful buggers.

Dunno Randy, he would have some competition from LBJ.

[Jericho941]

I always wanted to see modern high altitude blimps loaded with 200lb "smart" Micromunitions. Unmanned, and solar powered.

But if somebody builds that, nobody will want my rigid airship UAV-carrier!

Channeling Dean Ing, are we?

Had to Google that name... never read any of his stuff.