🚀 go-pugleaf

hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
> Anyway, in looking over the above ad, it appears to be a pitch
> by a big defense contractor for more military spending, which
> of course would benefit the contractor.
>
> In the 1950s, the government spent a ton of money for the Cold
> War, building tons of nuclear weapons*, defense radar networks,
> and aircraft and submarines.  Extremely expensive.  Kept the
> military draft going for years.
>
> Was it all necessary?  Very tough to say.  I can certainly
> understand the mindset of the era--the U.S. was caught flatfooted
> after Pearl Harbor and didn't want to be in that position again,
> quite understandably.  Further, the Soviets under Stalin and
> Kruschev were not exactly extending the olive branch and
> causing trouble worldwide.

remember the important thing about U2 program was that it debunked the
USAF claims about "bomber gap" ... where they were trying to just 1/3rd
increase in Pentagon budget ... contributing to Eisenhower's goodby
warning about the Military-Industrial Complex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomber_gap

Disproval of gap
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomber_gap#Disproval_of_gap

US President Dwight Eisenhower had always been skeptical of the
gap. However, with no evidence to disprove it, he agreed to the
development of the U-2 to find out for sure.[7]

... snip ...

WW2, LeMay was trying to justify 4engine, high altitude, strategic
bomber program ... even claiming that it could win the war w/o even
having to invade Europe ... 2/3rds total US WW2 spending went to planes
and half that (1/3rd) went to strategic bombing (drift: 1943 US
Strategic Bomber program needed industrial & military targets in Germany
... and it got the information from wallstreet). Even with Norden
sights, they had difficulty hitting anything from 5-6 miles up
... possibly explaining McNamara on Lemay's staff planning switch to
fire bombing German and Japanese cities (something was going to catch
fire)

The European Campaign: Its Origins and Conduct
https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1075
loc2582-85:

The bomber preparation of Omaha Beach was a total failure, and German
defenses on Omaha Beach were intact as American troops came ashore. At
Utah Beach, the bombers were a little more effective because the IXth
Bomber Command was using B-26 medium bombers. Wisely, in preparation for
supporting the invasion, maintenance crews removed Norden bombsights
from the bombers and installed the more effective low-level altitude
sights.

... snip ...

more drift; Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam: Learning
to Eat Soup with a Knife
https://www.amazon.com/Counterinsurgency-Lessons-Malaya-Vietnam-Learning-ebook/dp/B000QECG20/

loc1628-30:

The American army's involvement in the Second Indochina War from 1950 to
1972 demonstrates the triumph of the institutional culture of an
organization over attempts at doctrinal innovation and the diminution of
the effectiveness of the organization at accomplishing national
objectives.

loc1631-33:

The concept that success in counterinsurgency consisted of separating
the insurgents from popular support never took root. The U.S. Army
proceeded with its historical role of destroying the enemy army-even if
it had a hard time finding it. The United States Army entered the
Vietnam War with a doctrine well suited to fighting conventional war in
Europe, but worse than useless for the counterinsurgency it was about to
combat.

loc1641-43:

The learning cycle was also ineffective in recognizing poor performance,
suggesting doctrinal innovation, gaining organizational consensus behind
new doctrine, and disseminating the changes throughout the army in
Vietnam. Although there was substantial innovation from below, neither
the personnel nor the organization of the Military Assistance Advisory
Group (MAAG) and of its successor organization, Military Assistance
Command-Vietnam (MACV), was conducive to counterinsurgency learning.

loc2818-20:

Many of these innovations were, if useless, at least not harmful to the
achievement of American goals; the same can hardly be said for the use
of strategic B-52 bombers in a tactical close air support role, which
produced a vast number of civilian causalities and provided duds (5
percent of the bombs failed to explode) for booby traps that killed more
than one thousand U.S. soldiers in 1966 alone

... snip ... 

McNamara had left for the auto industry with the end of WW2 hostilities,
but comes back for Vietnam as SECDEF where Laos becomes the most bombed
country in the world (more tonnage than dropped on Germany and Japan
combined).

Trivia, recent estimate of still large number of unexploded WW2 bombs
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/apr/23/allied-bombs-still-threaten-hamburg-ww2

"As a rule of thumb, though, if German ordnance hit the ground, it
exploded," says period munitions expert Stephen Taylor, "while Allied
bombs were notoriously unreliable, with a failure rate generally
estimated at 15% or even 20%, especially if they hit soft soil and had
pistols rather than fuses."

... snip ...

military-industrial(-congressional) complex posts
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/submisc.html#military.industrial.complex

past posts mentioning "bomber gap":
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013d.html#80 What Makes an Architecture Bizarre?
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013e.html#10 The Knowledge Economy Two Classes of Workers
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013f.html#18 Air Superiority: Advantage over enemy skies for 60 years
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013g.html#54 What Makes collecting sales taxes Bizarre?
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2013h.html#41 Is newer technology always better? It almost is. Exceptions?
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2014b.html#52 US Army hopes to replace 25% of soldiers with robots by 2040
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2014b.html#54 Royal Pardon For Turing
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2014h.html#22 $40 billion missile defense system proves unreliable
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2015.html#13 LEO
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2015c.html#70 God No, the U.S. Air Force Doesn't Need Another Curtis LeMay
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2016.html#79 Shout out to Grace Hopper (State of the Union)
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2016c.html#80 Qbasic
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2016d.html#99 Trust in Government Is Collapsing Around the World
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2016e.html#122 U.S. Defense Contractors Tell Investors Russian Threat Is Great for Business
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2016f.html#47 British socialism / anti-trust
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2016h.html#33 "I used a real computer at home...and so will you" (Popular Science May 1967)
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2016h.html#89 "I used a real computer at home...and so will you" (Popular Science May 1967)

-- 
virtualization experience starting Jan1968, online at home since Mar1970