military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (06/02/89)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) While reading about some recent plans for the US Navy (including some radical new ship design proposals), I was struck by a sense of history repeating itself. In 1905, with the introduction of HMS Dreadnought, the Royal Navy created a entirely new class of ship, superior to its predecessors. In fact, the Dreadnought made all earlier battlships obsolete, so much so that the other navies of the world were quick to follow Britain's lead and lay down dreadnoughts of their own. This had a curious side-effect. The Royal Navy was already superior to the other fleets of the world in both number and type of pre-dreadnought battleships; they commanded the seas. But with every nation of any import building modern dreadnoughts, their older ships became nearly superfluous. Rather than improving her lot, the introduction of HMS Dreadnought forced Britain to embark on a rapid building program of new battleships to maintain her superiority; and even at that, the German Navy was able to construct a fleet capable of offering challenge. Within a few years, the British introduced another breakthrough design, the battlecruiser; once more, they started on nearly equal footing with the rest of the world, and had to build quickly to maintain an edge. And so it becomes necessary to ponder whether new technology is actually *desirable* in a given area, lest we make this same "mistake". It seems to me that several factors need be considered: 1) Will our competitors be able to develop this technology if we pass it by ? 2) Will it require the replacement of many expensive weapons, or render them obsolete ? 3) Does it add new capability not otherwise attainable ? 4) Will it be easily copied by our competitors (can it be kept secret) ? and, I'm sure, more. And so; can anyone think of examples where we may have "cut our own throats" by introducing some new weapon system ? Chobham armor may be a possibility; it's highly resistant to HEAT warheads, upon which all of our antitank missiles (the backbone of our tank defense in Europe) rely. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bill Thacker moderator, sci.military military@att.att.com (614) 860-5294 "War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied." - Sun Tzu