Backstage - OOC Forums
General Discussion => The Speakeasy: OOG/Off-topic Discussion => Topic started by: Anslol on 27 Mar 2013, 07:44
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Old news maybe, but I was seeing what research was being conducted into stealth planes given all the N.Korea crap going on and found this.
Immediately thought Caldari/Amarr taking a Dominix and making it their own.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/new-stealth-bomber-could-control-drones-fire-lasers-bust-bunkers/ (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/new-stealth-bomber-could-control-drones-fire-lasers-bust-bunkers/)
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Khanid Dominix?
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We're entering a strange decade or two where automated and piloted systems are going to be trying to figure out their new roles related to each other.
Big, hugely expensive platforms piloted by frail man-flesh are going to be increasingly hard to justify vs nimble, cheap, 'disposable' hunter-killers from Skynet.
Until human man-flesh gets smart with jamming the control signals or blowing up the GPS grid. Then we'll have to scramble to get people back in the 4 propeller planes we have left.
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But the B-3 isn't a drone? O_o...it launches drones but it's not a drone.
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As a current servicemember, I personally want to see less effort on buying new stuff and more effort on reforming the procurement system. Quality control and price controls are completely broken and/or the oversight just isn't being enforced correctly. A few examples:
- The LCS. We started buying them before the technology was mature. You don't build/buy a ship before all the parts are ready. It's just stupid. And why did the Navy go from "we're going to buy 1 type" to "we're going to buy both types"?
- The San Antonio LPD. The lead ship spent 10 months as a pier attraction in Bahrain, halfway through deployment, because they couldn't open the well deck. Seriously? It's a transport! It's supposed to be able to open the well deck. We're well past the days of Marines climbing down cargo nets to board the landing craft.
- The Ford class CVN. Another prime example of building and buying before ready. The brand-new catapult system - it's just a catapult, no biggie, it only launches aircraft off the ship - isn't ready to go and yet we're already building the lead ship.
- The F-35. Need I say more? We're already buying them and the program is way, way, WAY over budget. $1.7bn for repairs and modifications to the ones we already have. And why did it take until the 6th-7th batches for the Pentagon to hammer Lockheed Martin with a clause forcing LM to pay out-of-pocket for modifications?
/rant
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Until human man-flesh gets smart with jamming the control signals (1) or blowing up the GPS grid (2).
(numbers added by me)
(1) Electro-Magnetic Spectrum (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/05/north-korea-pumps-up-the-gps-jamming-in-week-long-attack/) & Cyber Warfare (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/virus-hits-drone-fleet/) are already ongoing.
(2) first :lol: grid, second attacking satellites (especially MEO & GEO) directly is 1) hard & expensive and 2) extremely dangerous for anyone who utilizes space-based sensors or communication relays. It is easier and cheaper to generally do #1.
As a current servicemember, I personally want to see less effort on buying new stuff and more effort on reforming the procurement system. Quality control and price controls are completely broken and/or the oversight just isn't being enforced correctly.
The acquisition of military systems has been complicated for over 200 years. I can discuss in more detail if there is sufficient interest and I have sufficient time.
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You can't stop building a decade-long project just because a system doesn't function yet, even if its an important one. These things have inertia, and massive amounts of materials and manpower behind them, slowing down or stopping the schedule is very difficult.
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- The San Antonio LPD. The lead ship spent 10 months as a pier attraction in Bahrain, halfway through deployment, because they couldn't open the well deck. Seriously? It's a transport! It's supposed to be able to open the well deck. We're well past the days of Marines climbing down cargo nets to board the landing craft.
I am literally watching an episode of Build It Bigger on the Military Channel right now, an episode called "Navy Amphibious Warship", detailing the construction of LPD-17. They are installing the well deck door. Five of the six hinge pins fit (and were slid in place by hand), but the sixth did not.
So instead of taking the door back down and reworking the hinges, they lowered the door some to rotate the hinge and minimize the overlap. With a sledgehammer, they pounded the sixth pin into the hinge and called it a win.
I looked up LPD-17... it's the San Antonio. The same one you mentioned spent nearly a year as a tourist attraction because the door wouldn't open. I guess that explains why.
Go look up the episode (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1482529/) if you want to see it (http://www.amazon.com/Navy-Amphibious-Warship/dp/B0027WF04K).
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- The San Antonio LPD. The lead ship spent 10 months as a pier attraction in Bahrain, halfway through deployment, because they couldn't open the well deck. Seriously? It's a transport! It's supposed to be able to open the well deck. We're well past the days of Marines climbing down cargo nets to board the landing craft.
I am literally watching an episode of Build It Bigger on the Military Channel right now, an episode called "Navy Amphibious Warship", detailing the construction of LPD-17. They are installing the well deck door. Five of the six hinge pins fit (and were slid in place by hand), but the sixth did not.
So instead of taking the door back down and reworking the hinges, they lowered the door some to rotate the hinge and minimize the overlap. With a sledgehammer, they pounded the sixth pin into the hinge and called it a win.
I looked up LPD-17... it's the San Antonio. The same one you mentioned spent nearly a year as a tourist attraction because the door wouldn't open. I guess that explains why.
Go look up the episode (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1482529/) if you want to see it (http://www.amazon.com/Navy-Amphibious-Warship/dp/B0027WF04K).
I'm sorry but my fucking sides LOL.
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Researching around this, I found out that the Royal Navy once considered buying some seagoing drone boats from BAE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UXV_Combatant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UXV_Combatant)
Certainly an interesting concept. Shame that it seems to have faded into the blackness.
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