Delete comment from: Elements Of Power
As background and just an FYI, I happen to think highly of the Gripen effort and the end product overall. It was an extremely ambitious program, and it produced an admirable point-defense fighter that properly supported and competently flown can hold its own against any 4th Gen aircraft. It was no more or less immune to 'bad news' than other fighter projects. My point is that this work is hard, fraught with risks and unknowns, and NO project of this kind of complexity, required advanced technology, and cost involved can ever be brought off without a lot of snags and setbacks. Invariably, most of the cost and schedule problems come about via poor program or budget choices made, often external to the program, in dealing with some perceived event or difficulty. The bigger and more complex, the more need for a long-term national commitment and the more political a project becomes--and that adds even more likelihood there will be greater delays and overruns. RAND, among others has got decades of studies under their belt that have repeatedly made this very point.
Jul 4, 2015, 10:56:13 PM
Posted to David Axe is More Boring Than Ever (Bless His Heart)