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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

rshowalter - 03:05pm Jun 25, 2001 EST (#6001 of 6023)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Similar questions about resolution of parts, and resolution of signals, and vibration, and "undesired motion" , and calibration, and stackups of errors in SYSTEMS of components that have to be put together -- occur again and again with reference to these systems.

The missile defense people have been so far from reality, for so long, and so often rewarded, emotionally and financially, for avoiding fundamental facts, or awkward details, that the engineering firms involved have become corrupted.

Everybody's told so many lies, to themselves and to others, that it is difficult indeed to put coherent project decisions together.

In addition, it is difficult to find anyone to say "no" to military officers and public offials as forceful and determined as Rumsfeld.

So nobody checks anybody else about anything much - and projects go slam-banging on to disaster -- for decades.

The scram-jet project, ongoing for forty years - is like that. It has a fundamental problem -- the combination of super and hypersonic aerodynamic constraints, and fuel air mixing constraints, make it impossible to build a working system, nothing close to enough fuel can be burned per unit flow. Almost anyone, with technical knowledge of turbine design, would see the intractability of the problem -- and people have -- but the project has kept pegging along for forty years.

Money flows should be audited, with respect to missile defense efforts but technical decision making should be audited, too.

I can't draw any conclusion but a simple one. There is a great deal of fraud here, at many levels. Nothing else makes sense.

rshowalter - 03:06pm Jun 25, 2001 EST (#6002 of 6023)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

great ! reading.

remember the motivation to soft-pedal that the writers of the report are likely to have. Still, the fact is, the military has a lot of brave and capable people in it.

gisterme - 03:10pm Jun 25, 2001 EST (#6003 of 6023)

rshowalter 6/24/01 6:46am

rshowlater wrote: "...When it matters enough, checking should be morally forcing..."

You still don't say what you mean by "morally forcing", Robert.

I suppose the "moral force" would be applied by goon squads banging on doors in the middle of the night...just like in nazi Germany, the USSR and communist China.

rshowalter - 03:17pm Jun 25, 2001 EST (#6004 of 6023)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

gisterme , nice to see you paying attention.

let me post DAO's fine article, and get back to you with references.

Are you suggesting that there is no obligation to check things -- that, even when mistakes can do great damage -- it is better for people to stand in the way of checking.

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