I feel like that is saying that "high-speed cameras would never have been developed if we hadn't needed them in surveillance planes to plan for bombing runs".

I feel like that is saying that "high-speed cameras would never have been developed if we hadn't needed them in surveillance planes to plan for bombing runs". Seems like a lack of creativity in coming up with alternate, "better" use-cases that would still create a demand for the same technology. High speed cameras are useful for, say, factory automation and crash-testing. High-performance network switches could be used in robotic tele-surgery and protein-folding supercomputers.