U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James, unveiling the first image of a new Northrop Grumman long-range bomber on Friday, said it would be designated the B-21.Maybe they ought to call it the "B-2.1". Or maybe the number indicates how many the Air Force might possibly get to build.
Fucking zoomies. "Worthless" doesn't even come close to describing the utility of the Air Force.
So anyway, from here on out, the current Navy fighter is the F5H. The one they want to build is the F2O. The ASW helo is the HSS-3. AEW: W2F. COD: R2F-1. Big fucking helo: HU3S.
The Air Force is like a fan: If you stand in front of them, they blow; if you stand behind them, they suck; and if you stand beside them, they don't do a damn thing for you.
You may not like USAF aircraft designations, but it was Robert McNamara who foisted a universal designation system on the services, not us. Not only that, he did it in the early 1960s (when the USAF's F-110 became the F-4, a switch that was made in the Navy's favor by the way).
ReplyDeletePerhaps the 21, as with the F-35, refers to the number of years before it is operational?
ReplyDeleteWhy not the F2B, the follow-on to the F5H, as the primary fighter?
ReplyDeleteAll the various services equipment procurement systems are merely a conduit for tax money to be funneled to the (favored) contractors who properly invest in politicians to gain the contracts to kind-of make the stuff in the contract. It's a self-perpetuating system. If anything useable actually is made is just a happy side effect of the main operation. Usually it isn't useful. See JSF (aka F-35).
ReplyDeleteI'm late to the party, but the USN did this with the SSN-21, almost with DD-21, and did the Zumwalts really begin with 1000?
ReplyDeleteNo, but they only bumped up the Elmer by two numbers.
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