The United States has committed to building the F-47, a sixth-generation fighter aircraft that should do to the F-22 what the F-22 did to the F-15. Will it help America win The Battle of the Radii?
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Streamlined and Efficient GOVERNMENT?
March 31, 2025
12 Comments
We may already be too late!
I’m tracking a package delivery from China to the US ATM.
It shows leaving CN at 17:15 on 3/28, and arriving in the US at 20:45 on the SAME DAY!! 3.5 hours to cross the Pacific ocean??! For a cargo plane! Does the Pentagon know about this??!!!
[okay, just a little fun with the Int’l Date Line. The details just struck me funny when I tracked the parcel. Here’s hoping my new trousers fit me, and not a Ken doll, when they arrive…]
In regards to Skype shutting down, I got with my geek son eldest and he suggested Signal. Yes, I know it’s majorly in the news right now, but it had nothing to do with the quality and security of the platform. It seems to be the best alternative to go with for the here and now. Just so you know. Hope it helps. We need you fine gents and I, personally, would be devastated without my RA and Backstage fixes. <3
if you have a multitude of devices that you hop between Keybase can also be a good alternative. End to end encrypted and supports file sharing and even Git.
To pull on Bill’s closing metaphor, “you’re only going forward or you’re going backward,” is a naive notion, because the enemy just needs to go a little sideways (i.e., sidestep) to ruin our days. Consider the surprise we received on September 11, 2001 as a vivid example. As a country we’re likely better served to advance drone swarm technology for both offense and defense, and the manned aircraft are used as mobile controllers/observers for those swarms. That is the sort of “sideways” thinking for which we must be prepared.
I like the new beard shape, Scott.
Me, too. Less Santa Claus and more hubba-hubba. Tee hee!
Remember NGAS (next-gen stealth tanker) was already canceled, so they are going to need range – big time – since militarized B-757’s won’t even get close to any marginally contested areas. Also note FA-XX (F/A-18 replacement) is going to be announced soon (Northrop I hope, as LM has issues seriously over-running budgets). IMHO this is 100% a gubmint hand-out to keep (BA) St. Louis – solvent (there was talk of selling STL, whose recent debacles have kept them in the red for a decade). Basically this tries to keep BA (STL) as the 3rd DOD Aviation bidder. Reality? BA (STL)… Read more »
There is never going to be a situation where the basic realities of warfare are replaced with “something new”. There is never going to come a time when automation replaces human beings. There will never be a day when manned air superiority aircraft and human feet in boots on the ground are not needed. Barring some sort of as yet unforeseen and unknowable technological advancement along the same order as warp drive there is no such thing as an impervious shield. Thinking otherwise has been an unrealistic pipe dream for a very long time. Richard Jordan Gatling invented his multi-barreled… Read more »
“Mutually assured destruction” is a concept that has kept relative peace between the big players for a while now. I realize that isn’t really “warfare” in the context of your post. Tweaking AI, space/satellites, advances in alternative communications (made that up), and anything else are all sideways means to try and get around the reality of a potential nuclear winter. We have to hope The Enemy “loves their children, too”, as Sting sings so naively.
I agree that strangely enough, and as I’ve heard Bill say more than once himself — Mutually assured destruction works. The proof of that is on a planet that’s been bristling with nuclear warheads for three quarters of a century, some of those warheads in the hands of dangerously irresponsible people (looking at you, N. Korea), there has been no use of such weapons since they were first demonstrated to exist in 1945. That’s a long time ago. My Dad was 14 years old then. 5 years later he would be fighting the Korean War and THAT was a long… Read more »
“Star Wars defense system” seems more necessary than a new plane. AI drones seem more important, too. If we’re that worried about Taiwan, why not put up a shield around them?
I just had a flashback to the iconic episode of “Twilight Zone” called “To Serve Man”.
I think I did read we were shipping several Patriot systems to Taiwan. Also with news the Chinese were doing maneuvering tests with their satellites would be another reason for a space based defense system… of the systems in space. I think we will still need the new aircraft though, so that we can get weapons closer to the target and decrease reaction time available to the counter-systems.