The DoD needs 5 different aircrafts to do what one plane could do

[IdeomotorPrisoner]

Weapons, especially explosives, have a finite shelf life. We can either pay to dispose of them, and replace them, or we can send them to Ukraine, and only pay to move them and replace them. It would cost millions more to scrap and replace than to send them to Ukraine.

No, they aren’t going to gut the budget. There are too many threats, and we have too many needs right now to play that game. But they can streamline things and make them more efficient, and cut out the bloat, like all the DEI BS that’s been going on for years, and the millions spent to rename bases because they hurt someone’s feelings.

Of course the DEI. The overreaching demon to purge. I was trying to avoid that in this thread, but you can't really with this administration.

I have a firsthand account of what I heard was a military-wide (at least Navy/Marines) "wokeshop" on dealing with Transgender recruits. It was in 2016 or 2017. And the person who told me this said the officer running it, was not at all thrilled about it. She and almost everyone else thought it was patronizing to go over correct terminology to use. She said it "was a waste of a day and everyone hated having to take it seriously."

And Navy girls often become smart ass dirty minded boys as a matter of tradition and being outnumbered many to one . She was actually disappointed the Navy had stopped the crossing the line hazing tradition and it was just a normal ceremony where they tell you what they used to do back in the day.

I personally don't mind, but I've never had to attend a workshop where I'm instilled with the woke age new speak I support.

Im somewhat of a hypocrite, I can't even add the extra letters, numbers, and operator symbols to LGBT because it makes me feel silly and brainwashed.

So while I am very disappointed to see it all go, I knew it would when peoples feels renamed Ft. Hood and told everyone not referring to biological as cisgender was offensive.

We just can't stop being authoritative and dictating even when we try to make it genuinely diverse, equal, and inclusive.

Which isn't that bad in concept but quickly falls to the all out government cleansing it has become when implemented under penalty of the PC Patrol.

So yeah. Wish they would have tried to destigmatize it all differently, without the authority elements, but understand the massive blowback.

[Sirius]

One plane to rule them all sounds counter to everything else we do in tech.  Making things for a specific purpose and as uncomplicated as possible is better.  There are tradeoff for every decision you make and things compound. On the face of it the "one plane" just doesn't sound viable.

[Zaphod58]

Of course the DEI. The overreaching demon to purge. I was trying to avoid that in this thread, but you can't really with this administration.

I have a firsthand account of what I heard was a military-wide (at least Navy/Marines) "wokeshop" on dealing with Transgender recruits. It was in 2016 or 2017. And the person who told me this said the officer running it, was not at all thrilled about it. She and almost everyone else thought it was patronizing to go over correct terminology to use. She said it "was a waste of a day and everyone hated having to take it seriously."

And Navy girls often become smart ass dirty minded boys as a matter of tradition and being outnumbered many to one . She was actually disappointed the Navy had stopped the crossing the line hazing tradition and it was just an normal ceremony where they tell you what they used to do back in the day.

I personally don't mind, but I've never had to attend a workshop where I'm instilled with the woke age new speak I support.

Im somewhat of a hypocrite, I can't even add the extra letters, numbers, and operator symbols to LGBT because it makes me feel silly and brainwashed.

So while I am very disappointed to see it all go, I knew it would when peoples feels renamed Ft. Hood and told everyone not referring to biological as cisgender was offensive.

We just can't stop being authoritative and dictating even when we try to make it genuinely diverse, equal, and inclusive.

Which isn't that bad in concept but quickly falls to the all out government cleansing it has become when implemented under penalty of the PC Patrol.

So yeah. Wish they would have tried to destigmatize it all differently, without the authority elements, but understand the massive blowback.

It's not just the administration, it's the BS that the leadership is pushing as well. There's a lot of crap that doesn't get seen by the public that is out there that has absolutely nothing to do with warfighting or anything else the military should be doing, but gets a ton of money and attention. It's not a "demon to purge", it's a reality to an extent. Not as bad as people like to claim it is, but to just ignore it is almost as bad as claiming every accident is caused by it. 

The renaming of the bases was a joke. They initially gave the Army $1M to do it, and it ended up costing $62.5M to simply change the name of bases, because of hurt feelings. That's money that could have gone to pay raises for soldiers that can't make ends meet, or any number of other things. But because someone got a bug up their ass over names and feelings, instead it went to changing names, that are just going to be changed again, for millions more.

[Zaphod58]

One plane to rule them all sounds counter to everything else we do in tech.  Making things for a specific purpose and as uncomplicated as possible is better.  There are tradeoff for every decision you make and things compound. On the face of it the "one plane" just doesn't sound viable.

Once upon a time it was one plane, one mission. But that's no longer feasible and we end up with multi mission aircraft. But even that has limits. They tried a few years ago to try to combine four or five missions into one aircraft, with the E-10A, and found that it can't work. They tried to combine the E-8C, E-3, E-4B, EC-135/E-6B, and possibly the RC-135 into one platform, but found that there wasn't enough power or cooling, and the two radars for the E-8 and E-3 couldn't be operated at the same time for longer than a few minutes, and when they were, they interfered with each other to an extent that neither was providing good data.

[Sirius]

Once upon a time it was one plane, one mission. But that's no longer feasible and we end up with multi mission aircraft. But even that has limits. They tried a few years ago to try to combine four or five missions into one aircraft, with the E-10A, and found that it can't work. They tried to combine the E-8C, E-3, E-4B, EC-135/E-6B, and possibly the RC-135 into one platform, but found that there wasn't enough power or cooling, and the two radars for the E-8 and E-3 couldn't be operated at the same time for longer than a few minutes, and when they were, they interfered with each other to an extent that neither was providing good data.

Yeah.  You can combine stuff and make it bigger and bigger, but there is always tradeoffs.  Maintenance and operator training etc.

[xpert11]

Oh yes, his genius idea is to replace everything with one platform that's not proven, doesn't have anywhere near the range of a conventionally powered aircraft, doesn't have anywhere near the payload of even a helicopter, or the sensors of a single aircraft. Yeah, that's a great freaking plan.  The AFWERX plan isn't to replace a group of aircraft with one, it's to develop new technologies for vertical lift, that are potentially cheaper than existing programs, or more efficient than existing programs.

Perhaps Ashish Kapoor is a wannabe, Robert McNamara, with program consolidation in mind for further platforms. Of course, that course of action suits Kapoor's commercial interests without giving his potential U.S. military customers any thought.

McNamara was behind the F-111, an aircraft intended for service in the United States Navy and Air Force. However, what occurred with the F-111 is another discussion.

[putnam6]

It's not just the administration, it's the BS that the leadership is pushing as well. There's a lot of crap that doesn't get seen by the public that is out there that has absolutely nothing to do with warfighting or anything else the military should be doing, but gets a ton of money and attention. It's not a "demon to purge", it's a reality to an extent. Not as bad as people like to claim it is, but to just ignore it is almost as bad as claiming every accident is caused by it. 

The renaming of the bases was a joke. They initially gave the Army $1M to do it, and it ended up costing $62.5M to simply change the name of bases, because of hurt feelings. That's money that could have gone to pay raises for soldiers that can't make ends meet, or any number of other things. But because someone got a bug up their ass over names and feelings, instead it went to changing names, that are just going to be changed again, for millions more.

I didn't know the Navy ended King Neptune's pollywogs and shellbacks crossing the equator ceremony ...

[Zaphod58]

I didn't know the Navy ended King Neptune's pollywogs and shellbacks crossing the equator ceremony ...

The Air Force is getting rid of morale patches, tabs, baseball caps. Just about anything that could possibly hurt someone’s feelings is gone.

[putnam6]

The Air Force is getting rid of morale patches, tabs, baseball caps. Just about anything that could possibly hurt someone’s feelings is gone.

I am sure some of the higher up's realized some of these traditions have real value in instilling camaraderie and teamwork, talk about cutting shit willy-nilly with a meat axe. 

FFS I know this shouldn't surprise or annoy me but it does.

LOL, what do they do now when they cross the equator? 

Watch and discuss reruns of The View...  or throw all 11 rounds or more magazines from the Amory into the sea