Great Aircraft Carrier, except it doesn't work ...

[dogtag]

The Gerald R Ford - has elevators, catapults and arresting gear
that are non functional. So, if the Ford doesn't function too well,
can it's sister ship the John F Kennedy due to complete by years end,
be any better. The Ford is two years behind schedule, and counting.
The old systems functioned just fine. Maybe the Navy should note
the old maxim, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - at least not until you've
figured out how to make the new system actually work in reality, not
just in theory.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/this-ought-to-be-criminal-senators-demand-answers-from-trumps-navy-nominee-on-the-13b-aircraft-carrier-that-still-isnt-ready-to-deploy

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...edy-place.html

[togor]

The DoD has a weakness for new tech, and a deficiency of officers capable of running big procurement programs with military contractors. But I get the attraction of the electromagnetic catapult, if they can get it to work. Limiting the max catapult force on the aircraft through a closed loop control system will put far less stress on aircraft components than hitting them with a steam powered hammer, which is pretty much what they do today. But yes procurement is a problem of the institution. Eisenhower was right.

[m1ashooter]

Waste of our taxpayers dollars.

[S.A. Boggs]

Perhaps the craft should be renamed the U.S.S. Obama, a black ship going nowhere and costing money to do nothing.
Sam

[blackhawknj]

The Navy builds unsinkable ships by ensuring that the contracts are spread across so many states that even anti-defense spending Congress types find they have to vote for them or risk losing jobs in their districts.
Eisenhower wasn't that astute when it came to defense. The Army went through the fiasco of the Pentomic Division, in the 1960 campaign the Democrats charged the Republicans with allowing the "Missile Gap" to let the Soviets get ahead of us, the Army went through a big expansion under JFK.

[dryheat]

Thirteen billion. SOB, kiss my *ss that's a lot of money. Now there's never been a big project that hasn't been slammed for overruns. That's normal. But thirteen billion, that's real money. That's a lot of redwoods cut down.
Maybe it's not "real money". Maybe we will go off the "money standard" someday like we went of the gold, and later the silver standard. It will be the wish full standard. Me not understanding what bitcoins are all about.
I'm always glad to see dogtag is still about.

[Allen]

I wonder how good our submarine detection is these days. If anyone can get near enough to one of these to launch torpedo's then it's all for nothing. Same for missile attacks.

[blackhawknj]

Too much technology becomes a substitute for training. The Army had more crack shots in the days of the Krag and M1903 because it emphasized marksmanship, the crack shots were lionized.
And technology doesn't make up for poor leadership-the Maginot Line, e.g.
"You can have all the materiel you want, but without morale it is largely ineffective." George C. Marshall
Troops find all sorts of ways to engage in career sabotage against arrogant, obnoxious, overbearing, self serving superiors who see their assignments merely as rungs on their career ladders and subordinates as so much dirt beneath their feet.

[togor]

When was the last time the USAF lost a pilot in air to air combat? Over 50 years ago, I believe. An outstanding record but the flip side is that the planes are almost impossible to design and manufacture now, as the specs become ever more exotic.

[blackhawknj]

Over complicated high tech equipment is usually extremely difficult to maintain.

[Allen]

Over complicated high tech equipment is usually extremely difficult to maintain.

At the refinery I use to work at the company was constantly installing "fail safe" type systems on equipment that would automatically shut down pumps, compressors, control valves and huge furnaces at certain pressures, temps or flow rates that were out of range. The company called the "upgrades" as fail safe that would aid in safely shutting down a plant in case of an unforeseen emergency like a power outage. The real reason was to eventually reduce the number of employee's. The problem with this type of equipment is we had to routinely check the workings of it to make sure it would in fact work if needed. To do so the system would have to be bypassed or compromised to prevent accidently shutting the plant down. We never knew if the compromise would be reliable. Another problem was that not all equipment had this feature so if activated in an emergency you could have a 2000hp running pump pumping against a valve that had been closed off (not good). Another example would be for one of the supply pumps being shut down resulting in no flow through the furnace tubes while the furnace is running full bore at 1100 degrees or so (explosion). This may be a little Greek and things were much more complex in reality but the technology often made our jobs much more difficult and dangerous than it should have been. I suppose another example of high tech would be the Boeing 737 max having computer controlled avionics that over ruled what the pilots were trained for. Sometimes the advanced systems are presented too soon with lack of training, lack of knowledge, lack of reliability and lack of need.

[blackhawknj]

The hospital in my town moved to a brand new state of the art building in May, 2012. When Sandy struck-the backup generator system didn't kick in.
I read a story of William Lear of the Learjet. He would build a plane EXACTLY to the designers specifications, then tell them, take off your ties and dress shirts and slacks and put on coveralls, you're going to work on your plane. Any places that were too hard to get to, where they kept rapping their knuckles or needed a major disassembly to access....
On July 25, 1956 the Stockholm rammed the Andrea Doria which sank 11 hours later. The investigation found the navigator on the Stockholm
thought his radar was set for 15 miles-it was set for 5. The Andrea Doria's officers had not followed proper radar procedures either. Remember we're not talking about recently mobilized reserve officers or recruits on their first sea tour.