Friday, August 22, 2008
LINK-O-RAMA
I've been busy with work-work, so the browser's stuffed. Time for a link dump:
AIR POWER: A number of more or less unrelated items have caught my eye over the last couple of weeks. Here's a detailed piece about production techniques and facilities for the F-35 that is getting closer to reality. The flexibility of production techniques described here is very impressive, as are the raw numbers. I suppose I should be happy that, even with all this manufacturing ingenuity being applied to the program, the unit price of an F-35 is still very high. That means we're still the only folks in the world who can afford a program like this, despite all the gloom one hears about what terrible shape the US economy is in. Then there's this item about mounting a laser weapon on a C-130 gunship. I've been reading more and more items about this kind of thing, which indicates to me that there have been some real breakthroughs in implementing practical directed-energy weapons. And this item indicates that missile defense is also swiftly becoming a reality. Twenty five years ago, both of these ideas were considered to be unrealistic fantasies that an evil military-industrial-scientific establishment had sold to a credulous and ignorant Ronald Reagan. I don't suppose we'll be hearing any acknowledgments from the people who said this that they were wrong. Finally, here's an article that talks about the very serious issues that have been coming to the surface in the policy and program management within the Air Force.
SEA POWER: I'm obviously more knowledgeable about air power than sea power, so an article like this, that talks about a recent biting critique of US Navy policy leadership is a good primer. There may be a connection to the preceding link: The entire military endeavor is facing a challenge to its basic assumptions about role and method as fundamental as almost any in history, so it's perhaps not surprising that it's taking a while to figure out what's right and what's not, and what works and what doesn't. The problem, of course, is that with decade-long program lead times (at least), and multi-billion dollar program costs, getting it right is kind of important ...
THE RETURN OF HISTORY: Here's a good article about how recent events in Georgia point out a general reality: Fukuyama couldn't have been more wrong.
RED MEAT: Finally, if you're a Christian who doesn't have a strong stomach for criticism of some of your basic beliefs, don't go to this website, a blog maintained by a former evangelical minister who has ... changed sides. He still has the fiery rhetoric of his previous vocation, and is armed with detailed knowledge of the Bible and Christian theology.
OK -- coffee break's over; back on your heads!
GB, THHotA
posted by Greg 6:43 AM
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