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>Where the drawings do exist, "they're like six generations behind the industry standard," he said, adding that there are also no technicians who fully understa
by lp4vn 3y ago
>Where the drawings do exist, "they're like six generations behind the industry standard," he said, adding that there are also no technicians who fully understand them. "They're not alive anymore."
That's like a complex legacy application in which the original developers passed away. In this day and age one can only wonder how the american armed forces will deal with this problem in a scenario where the military struggles to attract and retain their talent.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> In this day and age one can only wonder how the american armed forces will deal with this problem in a scenario where the military struggles to attract and retain their talent There is no “in this day” to it. Skill degradation has been a problem since antiquity. It’s why the best armies were those that were fighting; there is no replacement for the real deal.
- h0l0cube 3y agoWhat does the army 'fighting' look like in this scenario? It seems like there's no other solution for deterrent weapons than refurbishing and replacing stock (preferably without dispatching)
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> What does the army 'fighting' look like in this scenario? Live fire with a dummy warhead. Or, more productively, turning them into launch vehicles for research purposes.
- h0l0cube 3y agoI would class that as 'training' and 'repurposing', and the former could be loosely classed as 'practice' fighting
- cf1241290841 3y agoIts not just skill but also knowledge. Recipe of Greek fire got lost to the ages.
- Teever 3y agoIt's a bit different since the industrial revolution, and specifically in the 20th century. There were periods of time where technology remained relatively static for hundreds of years and all that was required as practice and the generational transfer of knowledge. Now we can go through several revolutions in a single individuals generation with the relics of several generations past still in implementation and no one really sure of how they work/how to make them work.
- admax88qqq 3y agoThe armed forces might just build new missiles. It's not like cost has often been a constraint for them.
- lp4vn 3y agoI think you're downplaying the level of difficulty of building an ICBM from scratch(I'm assuming it would be from scratch).
- malfist 3y agoI would not be from scratch. We know how to build them, just look at the Trident missiles
- derefr 3y agoI’ve consistently heard that there isn’t too much of a difference between an ICBM and a space rocket. So I presume the military could “just” buy some modern heavy launch stages from SpaceX or the like, and then strap regular SLBMs to them as their payloads.
- rgmerk 3y agoModern space launch vehicles are liquid fuelled because it’s the most energy-dense fuel and you can shut the rocket down if necessary. In SpaceX’s case, you can also refuel the rocket for reuse. But you have to fuel it for a couple of hours on the launch pad. ICBMs are solid fuel because you can leave the rocket fuelled up indefinitely in its silo.
- bombcar 3y agoStick a nuke on a spaceX rocket, done.
- c0pium 3y agoThe hard part on an ICBM is down, not up. Also, liquid fuel is a bad idea for rockets that need to be ready to go at a moment’s notice for decades.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- elzbardico 3y agoStandard government procedure. Neglect investment for a few years, let things degrade, and then you have an emergency where nobody is going to question you why you are building the whole fucking thing again from scratch, no expenses spared! after all, it is an emergency! You can do this with the educational system, with health care, and with infrastructure. Of course they would also do it with Defense. Lockheed/Northrop/Boeing/etc executives need to have their bonuses too!