Delete comment from: Elements Of Power
1. ICBMs killed the B-70 and Navaho (and Snark BTW).
2. The B-52 path was selected INSTEAD of the flying wing design.
3. The Skybolt was as much a victim of the SLBM success, Hound Dog performance (satisfactory) and bigger land-based ICBMs as for it's own early failures in test.
4. The mission for the F-108 disappeared because the U-2 verified the Soviet bomber threat was not anywhere near as bad as had been feared when the program launched. It was not an escort fighter--it was an air defense fighter.
And it should be noted not one of these programs died because of ignorami carping or second-guessing on the sidelines, but by the defense establishment itself for 'best defense' policy reasons.
Your last paragraph is a 'Strawman'.
If it more correctly summarized my point it would read something akin to:
Yes, nothing with technical promise was ever cancelled as long as the mission need persisted and other alternatives were seen as either too risky or expensive. Whether early or late in a program, what mattered back in the old days was mission need and getting the right balance of program (schedule, cost, and performance)risk and the commensurate risk to national defense posture in pursuing selected alteratives to satisfy defense needs. This was a lot easier to do back then, when all political parties were interested in defense, and most people had personal memories of the last global conflagration.
Apr 19, 2012, 1:59:13 AM
Posted to The B-52 Turns 60: What IF? (Part 3)