From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 06:31:50 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Stealth Helicopters
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19970824215734.006e143c@pop.pipeline.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



DisgustedMonger wrote:

>  I was watching a 'crop' in Humbold County, CA, in the early 80's
>and was standing near the top of a hill one day when I heard a
>slight "whoosh, whoosh" for about three seconds before a helicopter
>came over the hill, scaring the living shit out of me.
>  I imagine that in the 15 or so years since then, the govt has
>managed to make them invisible, as well.

The GAO reports that the B-2 stealth bomber cannot fly in the rain,
which transforms stealth technology into junk. Moreover, the fragile 
machine needs strict atmospheric control in the hangar or its skin 
rots and delicate innards peter out, and because there are none of 
the luxurious digs overseas, the plane cannot be deployed closer to 
targets, thereby limiting its threat. The problem is apparently unsolvable 
for less than the cost of the plane itself, so they've got to be pickled 
and coddled indefinitely or thrown away.

   http://jya.com/nsiad-97-181.txt

Once armaments, tactics and strategy were battle-tested by using 
them for war, now with high-price simulation being widely deployed
to save money, it's pretty certain that the price of war games will 
eventually rise to cost exactly the same as an actual war, indeed
will make war a cheaper alternative.

What's a wonder is that GAO never finds serious fault with any of
the government programs it judiciously investigates. Instead, after 
due research, request for comments from those investigated, and
fair deliberation, the somewhat tawdry matters at hands merely 
require additional funding for fine tuning and keep the congressional 
sponsors happy to fund the programs, the watch-dogs and shrewdly 
voting taxpayers doing what needs to be done to complain and bank
their cut, short 10% for all the world's sterling leaders. 

Jeez, is this a California dream of virtual reality war games forever 
or the bleeding edge of the future set in motion at the dawn of:
making peace, making war, what's the diff so long as me and mine
never get drafted, never take the actual hit, never wake up dead?