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Posted: Mar 01 2008 02:04 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080301/ap_on_bi_ge/northrop_eads_air_force_tanker

So some company just won a $35 billion contract with the Air Force.

Three words: WHAT THE FUCK?

Whatever happened to fiscal responsibility? The U.S. government shouldn't be spending anywhere close to $35 billion on any single thing, especially not new fucking airplanes. Why the fuck do we need new aircraft? If the war in Iraq is going as well as President Bush says, we'll have already won by the time these aircraft are built. And if we haven't, expensive new airplanes aren't going to win it.

There is absolutely no reason the USAF needs new airplanes. Here's what an airplane needs to be able to do:

1. Fly over a country
2. Drop a shitload of bombs
3. Return to the aircraft carrier it took from from

THAT'S ALL. Aside from space exploration, I am against unnecessary government expenditures, and new military planes are the height of pointlessness. If the government was serious about winning in Iraq, they'd use that money to buy their fucking ground troops the body armor that their families are sending them instead of shiny new toy planes.

Posted: Mar 01 2008 02:32 pm

Military contracts and the people who make them are among the biggest nerds in the world! Let's make fun of them like Hollywood celebrities.

Posted: Mar 01 2008 03:23 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080301/ap_on_bi_ge/northrop_eads_air_force_tanker

So some company just won a $35 billion contract with the Air Force.

Three words: WHAT THE FUCK?

Whatever happened to fiscal responsibility? The U.S. government shouldn't be spending anywhere close to $35 billion on any single thing, especially not new fucking airplanes. Why the fuck do we need new aircraft? If the war in Iraq is going as well as President Bush says, we'll have already won by the time these aircraft are built. And if we haven't, expensive new airplanes aren't going to win it.

There is absolutely no reason the USAF needs new airplanes. Here's what an airplane needs to be able to do:

1. Fly over a country
2. Drop a shitload of bombs
3. Return to the aircraft carrier it took from from

THAT'S ALL. Aside from space exploration, I am against unnecessary government expenditures, and new military planes are the height of pointlessness. If the government was serious about winning in Iraq, they'd use that money to buy their fucking ground troops the body armor that their families are sending them instead of shiny new toy planes.

Actually, some have rejected the body armor, as it helps little and adds quite a bit of weight. Consider that plate armor as worn by knights weighed about 50 pounds, modern kit weighs 100+. I believe its about 130, but I can't say that in confidence. Also note that plate is not jousting armor, the one where they had to hoist you onto the horse. Nobody used that in a fight.

Planes are a bad investment. Perhaps an investigation in weight reduction for infantry?