Inferior military weapons.

[QRTRHRS]

My heart goes out for Chad Sheets friend as well as the families and loved ones of the other three men as well.

I have loosly followed the development of this aircraft and often wondered about it's feasibility. Also, I recently caught an episode on the History Channel that was an eye opener as well.

Seems that during the great war, when our men went over to France they were issued what the show termed one of the most hurrendously designed weapons ever, the ChouChou (did I get that right?). It was so poorly designed and manufactured that parts would not swap out with another. At the same time, we had the BAR but they were afraid the Germans would get their hands on it so chose not to use it. The Brits had a fairly good machine gun but we were not allowed that either.

That also reminds me of the M16. A little sand, a little jungle humidity, might as well fix bayonet and use it for a spear.

I think whomever is making decisions about continuing the Osprey program should be onboard the next flight.

 

[Chad Sheets]

It all comes down to money and pride. The Gov is pushing to spend $15,840,000,000. 00 (fifteen billion!!) just for the 360 V22's the Marines will need, not to mention what the Navy, AirForce and Coast Gaurd will spend. Thats a lot of cash getting thrown around. The pride part comes from a bunch of engineers and exec CEO's who convinced the Congress how great this is, and now that its not looking too great, who is going to be the first to say "I was wrong, I'm sorry"?

In the mean time more of those "We regret to inform you that youre Son was killed" letters get sent out. My old instructor said if he's out in the yard and sees one of those V22's overhead in the sky, he goes inside untill its flown out of site.

 

[The patriot]

I used to work for a military contractor.
I can tell you there is a lot of "corner cutting" and some pretty big ego's there too.
Nobody wants to be told theyre not doing it "to spec".
I was RIF'ed Oct 94, and I dont miss it.

PS qtrhrs, I think it's chautealt... . believe it or not. But your pronunciation is correct.


[This message has been edited by The patriot (edited 12-20-2000). ]

 

[dmurdock]

There is a movie you can rent called "Pentagon Wars". HBO made it (I think), and it is a movie detailing the development of the Bradley, from conception to deployment. VERY interesting and entertaining movie, 2 thumbs up. The scariest part of the movie is that it is completely factual.

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'01 Eth 3500 dually, no mods planned except maybe an amsoil filter & guages. See My Truck and also be sure to read What tools & methods to use for an easy 1st oil change!!!
"Be happy you don't get all the government you pay for. " -W. C. Fields

 

[DHRA]

Chad, my old next door neighbor was one of the Allison purchasing guys that was a part of the Osprey team. I can vaguely remember him coming home from London with a model and being excited about it. He told us all about it. I'm sure the military didn't accept the plane the way it was originally designed.

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Eric
GLTDR

 

[Dave B]

DITTO on the Pentagon Wars!!!! A side note: the Israelis never put up with that bull---... . they came up with their own version of the Bradley and have ZERO problems. Amazing, isn't it... .

 

[Briar Hopper]

See my post under the V22 Osprey crash thread started by Chad.