‹ Jaw-Jaw In Order to War-War? •
Volumes have been written about the (in)effectiveness of military technology and plans (e.g., Maginot Line).
The movie comedy, The Pentagon Wars, details the ludicrous design and engineering tests that the Bradley fighting vehicle evolved through.
On Tuesday, the newest Japanese destroyer collided with a small fishing boat, despite the fact that the destroyer had the latest and greatest detection equipment — provided by the US military.
While the accident is being blamed on human error this comes a year after a Chinese sub was able to surface undetected five miles from an American carrier. This despite the fact that carrier-based task forces include a vast array of sensors (e.g., ASW) that are supposed to detect and neutralize such threats.
Thus while the taxpayer is continuously blinded and bombarded with press releases hyping seemingly worthless military-grade technology, War Nerd’s Millenium Games observations are arguably vindicated. Or as William Lind has noted, an innovative, imaginative and low-tech enemy can overcome even the largest asymmetries.
Contemporaneously, the recent naval missile strike on the NRO satellite was only able to occur under ideal conditions: with calm seas and a pre-configured target with a known trajectory. What was the success rate of the vaunted Patriot batteries during Operation Desert Storm? And who was coerced out of billions of dollars to fund these schemes?
The real purpose of vast military budgit is to control the POLITICAL process by supporting those politicians friendly to the warrior class– the — “Do what I say or I’ll bash urr head in” crew. “We need your $$$$ to make you safe”…There is no competition of ideas when being robbed by the head bashers who use their lucre to hold onto power. Hey, if you dont support their expansionists dreams of empire, you must be weak??.. Right??
Government producing stuff that doesn’t work?
NO! I’m shocked!
I’m as skeptical of the US military as I am of hasty generalizations. We cannot conclude from a handful of examples that “military plans and technology” are usually, or even often, ineffective.
Skeptical about our military?
God forbid you know where you rights and your freedoms come from. It seems to that the military know exactly what they are doing…Its everyone else who is totally clueless.
Everyone wants to “FIX” all of this but yet all they seem to do is post words. Im glad our military doesnt have to sit and post comments before they go fight for us.
Sometimes superior military technology defeats other military technology. I doubt German charioteers would have circumvented the Maginot Line successfully. Panzers did, though.
Panzers did circumvent the Maginot Line, but not because they were technologically or even numerically superior to the French armor. It was because the French high command was, like ours, ossified, devoid of imagination and up against a highly motivated enemy who put a premium on creating and exploiting tactical advantages through mobility.
I read somewhere that the take-out of the “schoolbus-sized” satellite (why would one say ’schoolbus’?) cost $60 million. They say it was to prevent harmful gases etc from hurting someone. Does anyone doubt that? What other pollution projects do you see the military running out and spending $60 million to neutralize? This was about advertising their power. A $60 million advertisement paid to what target audience?
The satellite shoot-down was an obvious thumbing of the nose at the Chinese, who made somewhat of a hash with their own shoot-down a few weeks ago. However, from the first announcement of the plan I was skeptical- toxic hydrazine, indeed. How many thousands upon thousands of pounds of the stuff is produced over the course of a year in the US alone? If it’s so toxic, why do we ship it by tanker truck on our highways and railways? No, this was misinformation from start to finish- a way to get rid of a dead satellite whose burned parts *might* fall into the hands of (insert nation or terrorist group), as well as give the finger to the Chinese. And what if- horror of horrors- the hydrazine tank fell into the hands of Al-Quaeda? What terrors could they use it for on the American public? PLEASE. Spare me the idiocy.
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Karl Rohm.
U.S. aims at our falling satellite and hit’s insert country’s here satellite. WWIII begins.
I’m gonna bag me an Iijisu-kan!
I’m already working on a radio controlled fishing skiff with blinking red and green lights and agricultural chemicals on board!
What with American soldiers raping schoolgirls in Okinawa and falling asleep drunk in random people’s houses, one of these days soon, the question “What exactly are all these monstrous people and monstrous machines protecting?” will become unavoidable.