Thursday, December 20, 2001

NAVY WEAPONS WORK, OTHER SERVICES' ARE RATHER YUGO-LIKE: The Navy altered it's testing procedures a while back and so their airplanes actually work, according to this piece mentioned on Slate. Navy planes have flown 1500 missions in Afghanistan, while the B-2 (an Air Force plane) has flown six, and there's Ospreys sitting idle here in the States due to their persistent crashing problem. And I didn't know those Predators have been crashing, or that B-2s fall apart in the rain, or --most importantly-- there are no bathrooms in the B-2. It's like that part in "The Right Stuff" where the almost-astronauts have to argue the German scientist to put a window on the capsule. Apparently the Navy's new methods are the same as what private industry's been using for years --which may explain a lot.

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