“War Is The Unfolding of Miscalculations” That quote, attributed to author Barbara Tuchman, is generally ascribed to the events that ran up to the First World War. However, it, along with other illuminating principles such as the Rule of Unintended Consequences find a wider, and sadly, more common range of applications including those events presently…
In every battle there is a moment when the combatants, and the world, seem to catch their breath. It is a fleeting moment, lost in the blink of an eye. But in that same blink, everything changes. Such moments are borne of desperation, of courage, of plain dumb luck. But they are pivotal — for…
The weak can be rash. The powerful must be restrained.– Secretary of State William Rogers, April 1969 For most of these past several weeks, international attention has been focused on the activities taking place near a peninsula on the north-east coast of Korea. There, despite protests and warnings from around the world, the…
From the Secretary of the Navy WASHINGTON (NNS) — The Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter released the following birthday message to the fleet in anticipation of the Navy’s 233rd birthday. “On 13 October 1775, the Continental Congress voted on a resolution to commission a swift sailing vessel with a crew of 80 men…
Call this one – “Generations.” From the left — my Grandpa (father’s side), first generation American of German descent who left his home in Illinois to join the Army and head off to the War to End All Wars, serving in France with the AEF. Next my Grandpa Jack – Army, Signal Corps who served…
 It is clear that the XFV-12A program will not enhance the image of naval aviation. Note that in this case the outcome was not only predictable, but was in fact predicted. As is so often the case, all of the principals in the decision have moved on in both OSD and the Navy. The task…
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I am so ready for the Navy to bail on the F-35B/C, and develop a long range multirole strike aircraft. The air wing needs to get back some serious legs. The Navy can replace its legacy Hornets with the Rhino, and he Marines can make do with them as well – the whole V/STOL thing is just not really worth the money for the capability it brings.
I’m really not qualified to make a well informed
statement here, but here goes-
What allowed things to get this far?
Not just the F-35, but all these whiz bang
programs. The system that produced
these things is at fault. The government
and contractors share in the responsibility
(or lack thereof as the case may be….).
In the case of the F-35, SOMEONE should have
seen this coming long ago, after the F-111 deal.
Very frustrating. What to do if you scrap
the F-35? Again, no easy answers and the clock
keeps ticking….
I saw that there is a topic about “Future of Air War”. Maybe I agree with all the theories, but do we even have to talk about war? Because with the technology of today and with all the secrets that we don’t know, since “we are not prepared yet for the truth”, a war may endure only fraction of seconds, the world can be destroyed in no time…
“with the technology of today and with all the secrets that we don’t know”
“a war may endure only fraction of seconds, the world can be destroyed in no time…”
Which is exactly what was said by atomic bomb (then hydrogen bomb) advocates – right up until the Soviets, then the Chinese, then the Indians, etc. got the bomb. In the meantime there have been any number of wars of and by proxy and such. Prudence, and history, demand preparedness across a range of conflict and capability/capacity. It need not necessarily be a 1:1 match versus (a) potential foe(s) – there is merit in asymetric response.
Sitting on one’s hands, however much it might be a choice, is nonetheless a historically proven poor one.
w/r, SJS