The Worst US Defense Program of All • Hacker News Board

Re: The Worst US Defense Program of All

#31

Post by chipsa » Mon, Mar 28, 2022, 2:15 PM UTC

michaelt wrote: post #26

ss108 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CU?

Citizens United vs FEC [1] is a Supreme Court ruling, overturning limits on the amount of money corporations can spend supporting politicians' re-election attempts (i.e. bribes) because it's "freedom of speech" [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC

Citizens United was really determined by how badly the FEC f'd their argument: which was that there was no limiting principle on how far the FEC could use their power to limit non-candidate speech. They ruled the way the did because the alternative was worse.

If they'd decided the alternative, then any 501(c) organization could find itself muzzled during election season (which is roughly 90% of the year at this point). This include organizations like: EFF, ACLU, and Planned Parenthood. All of these are technically corporations.

Re: The Worst US Defense Program of All

#32

Post by horse90 » Mon, Mar 28, 2022, 2:17 PM UTC

>> the urge to displace direct perceptions of the real world in favor of costly and therefore profitable technological interfaces

That for some reason brings in mind all the chaotic ecosystem of modern IT infrastructure and development. Somehow, bigger and more complex seems to be the way things are lead to go every time.

Re: The Worst US Defense Program of All

#33

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 28, 2022, 2:18 PM UTC

vsskanth wrote: post #13

hahamrfunnyguy wrote: post #4

tldr: There are a number of US defense programs that are boondoggles and are a waste of taxpayer dollars. What can be done to fix it and make it more efficient? Well, the big problem is that congress loves boondoggles like this. The politicians are also delighted to take the money to help fund their campaigns. Now they owe some favors. As a bonus, they also get to brag to their constituents about how many jobs they'r…

Term limits and limiting lobbying won’t help. US Military is a massive jobs program and supports a huge section of the population if you include all it’s vendors. This is especially true in the heartland. Unless the amount of non-defense jobs all over US expand to such a level that people aren’t as dependent, they will always have people’s support and politicians will keep funding these.

[deleted]

Re: The Worst US Defense Program of All

#34

Post by HFguy » Mon, Mar 28, 2022, 8:58 PM UTC

motoboi wrote: post #8

Narretz wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are misrepresenting the article. Its main argument is that the remote visual guidance system for the boom initially didn't work as intended and the fix is still in progess. Are you implying that is wrong?

It’s very strange that the author go lengths to demonstrate how remote systems doesn’t work, just to, at the end, inadvertently providing an exemple where it works wonderfully (moral questions aside).

The ending made little sense. Some of the facts of the article may be correct, but the flow of logic was odd.

Re: The Worst US Defense Program of All

#35

Post by throw0101a » Tue, Mar 29, 2022, 12:38 AM UTC

BlueTankEngine wrote: post #2

This article is a malicious misrepresentation of the facts. https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/boeing-delivers-14-k... Is this tanker program 7 years late in delivery? Yes. But Boeing has eaten the entire $5 Billion dollars of cost overruns, as the contract for these planes is fixed price. In addition, the reason the plane is 7 years late is absolutely not due to the boom control mechanism, but more so the fueli…

> Because of the strict procurement laws we have in the USA, instead of the tax-payer taking huge losses on the program, Boeing shareholders have eaten the cost. I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

So the failure to deliver a product in the agreed upon timeline is a good thing? The delay is having knock-on effects with capacity:

> TRANSCOM: Refueling Capacity a Major Shortfall, Made Worse by KC-46 Delays

* https://www.airforcemag.com/transcom-refueling-capacity-a-ma...

> More problems with Air Force’s new tanker could put the squeeze on the Pentagon’s refueling capabilities, TRANSCOM chief says

* https://taskandpurpose.com/news/kc-46-tanker-problems-pentag...