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Military technology
An interesting article on the technology that sent Zarqawi to the hereafter.
I recall reading an article by a former Soviet general a few months ago, in which he said that the revolution in information affects war-waging more than entry into the nuclear age. Company-level officers now act on more information than brigade commanders formerly had, and it goes directly to them in realtime, when in past you had to fly a photo recon mission, develop the film, analyse it, report on that, etc. As this article points out, it affects air-ground war, too. Instead of missions being planned days in advance, fighters can be kept aloft and sent to strike, or recon, whatever pops up. Essentially, a war in 2006 is in many ways enormously different from one fought in 1990 or so.
Col. North remarked to me that it affects even supply matters. If you need a part, you punch it into a laptop. A database tells you the nearest location stocking that part. It's then delivered the next day, usually by FedEx (hey, the civilian sector built up the best and fastest delivery mechanism). I assume they don't do tank turbines, but then they might just.
Comments
Thats a link to your inbox I think. The article is nowhere to be found.
Posted by: beerslurpy at June 12, 2006 11:21 PM
Your link to the "interesting article" appears to be bad.
Posted by: Jim D. at June 12, 2006 11:26 PM
Worked for me.
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002485.html
I couldn't read the comments to "Byron" without laughing out loud!
Posted by: The Mechanic at June 13, 2006 02:28 PM
It is better than that. Numerically controlled machines at repair depots make parts on demand.
All you keep in stock is raw materials, NC machine tools. NC codes.
Posted by: M. Simon at June 17, 2006 03:20 PM