The real problem with the Starfighter was that people kept trying to make it do things it wasn't designed for. It was intended to be a supersonic interceptor for knocking down Soviet bombers coming over the North Pole, trying to use it close to the ground and against ground targets was asking for trouble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter
I skated over the vagaries of military procurement, which seem to me involve distinct phases of human psychology -- utopian belief the platform will solve the mission -- promising early testing leading to mission creep -- magical thinking when further testing goes wrong -- financial disaster and sunk cost fallacy.
The real problem with the Starfighter was that people kept trying to make it do things it wasn't designed for. It was intended to be a supersonic interceptor for knocking down Soviet bombers coming over the North Pole, trying to use it close to the ground and against ground targets was asking for trouble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter
Great point Robert!
I skated over the vagaries of military procurement, which seem to me involve distinct phases of human psychology -- utopian belief the platform will solve the mission -- promising early testing leading to mission creep -- magical thinking when further testing goes wrong -- financial disaster and sunk cost fallacy.
Every single time.
Thanks for taking the time to comment :)
That's quite a slice of history.
Brilliant info dump. I loved every paragraph, because each seemed to grow stranger than the last.
And, of course, it's sobering to see that the LDP remains as corrupt as ever, thanks in initial part to the frickin' CIA.