8 ms·

Unless they can built it using plants in all 50 states then they don't stand a chance. The F35 is already built using parts sourced from all 48 continental stat

by JVIDEL 12y ago

Unless they can built it using plants in all 50 states then they don't stand a chance. The F35 is already built using parts sourced from all 48 continental states. Defense procurement has been using pork barrel strategies for decades, its the industry standard. You can literally sell something that doesn't works for whatever price you want as long as you got the political backing to do so.

shiftpgdn 12y ago
Can you help guide me sell something that doesn't work to the government for massive profits? I'd like to be able to buy a house in the Bay Area.
- gambiting 12y ago
  There you go, just learn from this guy: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-11/in-iraq-the-bomb-detecting-device-that-didnt-work-except-to-make-money http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-11/in-iraq-the-... He was selling a device that literally had a battery connected to an LED, and that was it,no active component what so ever. "McCormick had spent three years selling the Iraqi government these devices, sometimes for more than $30,000 each. The best estimates suggest that the authorities in Baghdad bought more than 6,000 useless bomb detectors, at a cost of at least $38 million." But it's not like it's just the Iraqis that got tricked: "By the end of 1995, distributors across the U.S. had sold about 1,000 Quadro Trackers to customers including police departments in Georgia and Illinois and school districts in Kansas and Florida." "Kelly instructed his agents to bring in an example of the device, ran it through the X-ray machine at the Beaumont courthouse to see what was inside it, and sent it to the FBI labs in Washington. “They said, ‘This is a car antenna and a plastic handle. It doesn’t do anything.’ ”
  - easytiger 12y ago
    Not entirely sure what that says about the due diligence or common sense of any of the hundreds/thousands of people surely involved
  - dsr_ 12y ago
    Tom Clancy shilled for them in one of his novels: "Tell Noonan that his letter about that people-finder gadget has generated results. The company's sending a new unit for him to play with-four of them, as a matter of fact. Improved antenna and GPS locator, too. What is that thing, anyway?" "I've only seen it once. It seems to track people from their heartbeats." "Oh, how's it do that?" Foley asked. "Damned if I know, Ed, but I've seen it track people through blank walls. Noonan's going nuts over it. He said it needed improvements, though." "Well, DKL - that's the company - must have listened. Four new sets are in the same shipment with a request for our evaluation of the upgrade."
  - wehadfun 12y ago
    r/nottheonion
mikecb 12y ago
My guess is they're not aiming their sights at the Pentagon, but rather medium sized country exports. Plenty of countries want a modern yet cheap to maintain air capability.
- JVIDEL 12y ago
  And those countries want to build their own industries and employ their own people as well, same problem. Take the recent failure to sell the SuperHornet and the Rafale to the Brazilian Air Force: they lost the bid because both Boeing and Dassault refused to do a complete technology transfer to the Brazilians. So the BAF went with the Grippen because Saab gave them the blueprints and code to everything, to the point that Brazil can make their own Grippens in the future and their own weapon systems without sharing information with the Swedes.
  - mikecb 12y ago
    I wouldn't expect Brazil to be a market for this sort of plane, but rather more countries which currently primarily purchase used or refurbished soviet fighters. But then again, given their low development costs, who's to say that Textron wouldn't approve such a production model for this plane? It's not like Saab is losing money on the Brazil deal.
    - at-fates-hands 12y ago
      >>> I wouldn't expect Brazil to be a market for this sort of plane, but rather more countries which currently primarily purchase used or refurbished soviet fighters. I would presume this means a lot of middle eastern and northern African countries - most of whom are engaged in some kind of civil war. I'm wondering how this affect a company's conscious to know their planes are being used to support some pretty sketchy governments.
      - JVIDEL 12y ago
        Uganda had to ask the US for jet fuel to be able to pursue Kony and his LRA, where are they going to get the money for new planes?

by JVIDEL 12y ago

shiftpgdn 12y ago

Can you help guide me sell something that doesn't work to the government for massive profits? I'd like to be able to buy a house in the Bay Area.

gambiting 12y ago
There you go, just learn from this guy: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-11/in-iraq-the-bomb-detecting-device-that-didnt-work-except-to-make-money http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-11/in-iraq-the-... He was selling a device that literally had a battery connected to an LED, and that was it,no active component what so ever. "McCormick had spent three years selling the Iraqi government these devices, sometimes for more than $30,000 each. The best estimates suggest that the authorities in Baghdad bought more than 6,000 useless bomb detectors, at a cost of at least $38 million." But it's not like it's just the Iraqis that got tricked: "By the end of 1995, distributors across the U.S. had sold about 1,000 Quadro Trackers to customers including police departments in Georgia and Illinois and school districts in Kansas and Florida." "Kelly instructed his agents to bring in an example of the device, ran it through the X-ray machine at the Beaumont courthouse to see what was inside it, and sent it to the FBI labs in Washington. “They said, ‘This is a car antenna and a plastic handle. It doesn’t do anything.’ ”
- easytiger 12y ago
  Not entirely sure what that says about the due diligence or common sense of any of the hundreds/thousands of people surely involved
- dsr_ 12y ago
  Tom Clancy shilled for them in one of his novels: "Tell Noonan that his letter about that people-finder gadget has generated results. The company's sending a new unit for him to play with-four of them, as a matter of fact. Improved antenna and GPS locator, too. What is that thing, anyway?" "I've only seen it once. It seems to track people from their heartbeats." "Oh, how's it do that?" Foley asked. "Damned if I know, Ed, but I've seen it track people through blank walls. Noonan's going nuts over it. He said it needed improvements, though." "Well, DKL - that's the company - must have listened. Four new sets are in the same shipment with a request for our evaluation of the upgrade."
- wehadfun 12y ago
  r/nottheonion

mikecb 12y ago

My guess is they're not aiming their sights at the Pentagon, but rather medium sized country exports. Plenty of countries want a modern yet cheap to maintain air capability.

JVIDEL 12y ago
And those countries want to build their own industries and employ their own people as well, same problem. Take the recent failure to sell the SuperHornet and the Rafale to the Brazilian Air Force: they lost the bid because both Boeing and Dassault refused to do a complete technology transfer to the Brazilians. So the BAF went with the Grippen because Saab gave them the blueprints and code to everything, to the point that Brazil can make their own Grippens in the future and their own weapon systems without sharing information with the Swedes.
- mikecb 12y ago
  I wouldn't expect Brazil to be a market for this sort of plane, but rather more countries which currently primarily purchase used or refurbished soviet fighters. But then again, given their low development costs, who's to say that Textron wouldn't approve such a production model for this plane? It's not like Saab is losing money on the Brazil deal.
  - at-fates-hands 12y ago
    >>> I wouldn't expect Brazil to be a market for this sort of plane, but rather more countries which currently primarily purchase used or refurbished soviet fighters. I would presume this means a lot of middle eastern and northern African countries - most of whom are engaged in some kind of civil war. I'm wondering how this affect a company's conscious to know their planes are being used to support some pretty sketchy governments.
    - JVIDEL 12y ago
      Uganda had to ask the US for jet fuel to be able to pursue Kony and his LRA, where are they going to get the money for new planes?