“Steam’s only worked for about 65 years perfectly,” the president said. “They have a $900 million cost overrun on this crazy electric catapult. I said, ‘What was wrong with steam?'” — This is what the journalist calls a “crazy rant” from President Trump.
Not unrelated: Patrick Shanahan asserts military’s independence from politics [i.e., Donald Trump] after USS John McCain incident.
Boeing is surprised Canada softened the rules of a competition for new fighters to allow Lockheed Martin Corp to submit a bid… to supply 88 jets. International sales are a good test case for finding out whether a weapon system like the F-35 is actually cost-effective, but still, it can be hard to tell based on subsidies and other factors.
Fair and open? Bulk of DoD dollars continue to filter to a few market giants. Unsurprising charts at the link. But I was surprised the Air Force “competes” out more contracts than Army and Navy, though the definition of compete is really what is slippery. (I failed to find the GAO report the author was referencing — why no link or or even citation?)
Forget Self-Driving Cars: The U.S. Air Force Wants a Self-Flying Helicopter.
Tell us something we don’t know: Pentagon Report Slams China for Pursuing ‘Predatory Economics’
Related: Defense chief calls out China on tech theft.
The Navy wants to procure a total of 13 LPD-17 Flight II amphibious ships. LPD-17 Flight II ships cost roughly $1.8 billion each to procure.
Patrick Shanahan to US Naval Academy class of 2019: “While we always expect you to strive for excellence, the zero-defect mentality is a handicap we simply cannot afford.”
“In his career at Lockheed, [Kelly] Johnson’s engineering acumen won him two Collier trophies, the most prestigious award one can win in the field of aeronautics (Lockheed chief engineer Hall Hibbard once famously said about Johnson, “That damn Swede can see air!”).” Link is here.
Related: Kelly Johnson: Life of an Iconic Aeronautical Engineer.
Leave a Reply