Message posted by Magoo on March 04, 2000 at 19:39:20 EST:
I don't think you have too much to worry about with the Skunk Works Jim. They are one of the leanest outfits around, and have even been known to give money back to the Air Force if a programme comes in under budget. This has been verified by many sources - not just Ben Rich in his book. What ou guys talk about is one of the reasons I believe it is so much harder to build these wonderful aircraft these days. There is just soooo much red tape and bureaucracy to get through, which can triple (or more) the cost of a programme compared to the good 'ol fifties and sixties. It's funny when you think about it. When SecDef MacNamara took over in 1962, his mission was to streamline the military and to reduce wastage and therefore cost. What he ended up doing was to make poeple so scared of making a mistake, that they had to be totally accountable and basically cover their ass all the time, and basically not get anything done. An example of his cost cutting, was to combne the Air Force TFX with the Navy longe range Interceptor programmes. This evolved into the F-111, which eventually went on to be exactly what the air force wanted, but the Navy spent $800 million (1967 dollars!) trying to get it right, then cancelled it because it was too heavy. Good intentions gone wrong? Perhaps! Total cockup? Probably! Waste of money? Certainly!!! Read the quote attributed to Kelly Johnson in the last chapter of the SR-71 profile in the More Info&Photos section of this site. That says it all! Magoo
In Reply to: Re: UNFAirness ??? posted by Andre' M. Dall'au on March 04, 2000 at 18:38:34 EST:
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