The Pentagon's Supersonic, Shape-Shifting Assassin

grammar fascist writes "CNN reports that Northrop Grumman is under contract to build a new supersonic, shape-shifting bomber by 2020. The main innovation is in its single, rotating wing. From the article: '[It] will cruise with its 200-foot-long wing perpendicular to its engines like a normal airplane. But just before the craft breaks the sound barrier, its single wing will swivel around 60 degrees (hence the name) so that one end points forward and the other back. This oblique configuration redistributes the shock waves that pile up in front of a plane at Mach speeds and cause drag. When the Switchblade returns to subsonic speeds, the wing will rotate back to perpendicular.'"

Comments

Budget Priortites

[Anonymous Coward]

We clearly see where the priorities of this adminstration are. Forget the rising unemployment rate, the balooning deficit, and the fact that medicare is getting slashed to the bone.

Let's continue to invest in war, because as we all know, war is good business, right?

Re:Budget Priortites

[McBainLives]

You got 1 out of 3 right. Unemployment is down to 4.6% (about half that of the major European economies), and Medicare never actually gets cut- Congress either fiddles with the rate of growth, or adds a multi-billion-dollar "Part D" program. Try reading the news every now and then. Sure, the deficit's a bummer, but national defense is mandated by the Constitution in Article IV, as opposed many of the abuse-of-the-Commerce-Clause programs whose names I won't mention... ...and whoever runs this place, how about adding an option to post as "Anonymous Ignorant Coward" for those AC's who realize that they may not know what they're talking about?

Re:Budget Priortites

[gb506]

National defense is mandated but is spending billions on a program which is useless against terrorist mandated too?

Zarqawi was killed with a couple of aircraft-delivered bombs, a fate delivered to countless other islamo-fascist freaks since late 2001. The point here is to build a platform that can remain on station for a long time out of harm's way until a target is identified, then streak in and take it out. It'll be unmanned, so we can take out the bad guys without putting our guys at risk.

You are for reducing the risk to our men and women in the armed forces, aren't you? Sorry, have to ask nowadays...

I am all for defense. I do object to waging war for fun and profit though. Where is it mandated that the US taxpayers should get rid of every two bit dictator with oil while making nice with dictators in pakistan and africa?

Well, hurry up and win an election, then, and you'll be able to get straight to work in Afghanistan and Iraq stripping away women's rights to vote, re-introducing the burka, and throwing the girls out of school. Funny how you pricks are always bellyaching about human rights, but when the US moves to do something that will actually bring 25 million people into the 21st century, you moan like a downed cow. It serves to illuminate your motivations quite nicely.

And fun and profit? Please.

Re:Budget Priortites

[gb506]

so what were the motivations of your fine leaders when they supported hussein? when he dropped gas on his own people were you not supplying him (among countless other foul dictators) with weaponry?

Could have had something to do with the geopolitical climate of the time, don't you think, AC? Oh, wait, you were probably cheering for the Red side back then, weren't ya! Sorry the worker's paradise thing didn't quite pan out for you...

no weapons of mass destruction...whoops
no link with 911...ok so that was a lie

Jury is still out on WMD, but they sure seem to be finding a lot of undeclared pre-gulf war chemical munitions, aren't they! And nobody in the administration even feels the need to promote that. Oh, yeah, makes me wonder, too, about why all of those Russian scientists were running around Iraq before the war... And all of that truck traffic into Syria...

Nobody ever said Saddam was in on 9/11. Nobody. What they said was that Saddam's govt met and discussed operational ties. Stop re-writing history.

but hey this has nothing to do with oil and is all about human rights, forget that we've supported and continue to support regimes that trample over civil liberties.

And you want to take the civil liberties Afghani and Iraqi people have gained away from them, post haste, don't you? Yes, yes you do, because your rabid hatred of Bush and American interests in general trumps all those women who can now vote, go to school, and show their ankles in public without being stoned to death. Such a warm and fuzzy person you are.

never mind the fact that America is actively engaging in torture by shipping prisoners to places for that very purpose.

Well, with pansies like you around, what other choice do we have? I mean, we're trying to avert terrorist attacks, AC, and you want to play dominoes with 'em!

Re:Budget Priortites

[killjoe]

look fuckwad. What kind of a person thinks that military spending is the best and most efficient way to get R&D? What kind of a retard thinks that the govt is the best and most effective way to accomplish R&D?

You are a retarded moron. A republitard.

Re:What a great idea

[Brandybuck]

Do all hippies think that we don't need a military?

No, they only think we don't need a military when a Republican is in office.

Re:Oh no!

[Anonymous Coward]

I just hope that it's control software won't use Windows 2020 or else it will crash with a blue explosion.

You Seem to be very hopeful about Vista's release date.

Re:Shape shifting?

[MustardMan]

No, it goes from looking like a plane to looking like a plane with the wings on a funny angle. My laptop screen can rotate through a larger angle than these wings. My examples were sarcastic. Understand sarcasm before you indulge in your slashdot penis waving attempt to correct someone.

Re:Britain isn't a major European economy?

[McBainLives]

Wow- "destruction of the Other." You must've read some serious postmodern nonsense in your day.

But you still need a better dictionary. I stole this from the Oxford American free-with-OS-X version:

"The term Fascism was first used of the totalitarian right-wing nationalist regime of Mussolini in Italy (1922-43), and the regimes of the Nazis in Germany and Franco in Spain were also fascist. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach."

(Next time you're gonna have to look this stuff up yourself.)

If I may add a few observations, fascism is really hard for anyone to practice in the US- the ranting and raving of leftists aside. But just to use myself as an example- I'm a member of a minority ethnic group, and while proud of my heritage, I know better than to assume we're all alike, let alone generally better than other groups. I'm a big fan of democracy, at least our American representative-republic model, though we should probably use shorter terms of office, especially if the old ones were based in any way on the fact that communications were slow (e.g. it took two days or more to get from NYC to Philadelphia) back when the Constitution was drafted. "Insistence on obedience to a powerful leader" is incompatible with the Constitution, and few if any of our leaders deserve anything more than tolerance, let alone obedience (at least from civilians- military life has slightly different rules, from what I've heard). As far as a "strong demagogic approach" goes, I don't let the ignorance of other people keep me up at nights. Live and let live. Sometimes I'm even jealous of their blissfulness...

I actually consider myself a fairly good representative-republic-an. Sure it has its challenges- the acknowledgement of, and attempts to understand, different ideas, and accepting the fact that electoral fortunes change over the years. But see "live and let live" in the previous paragraph.

Your own reaction to the notion that someone out there (incidentally, who you've never met before, and know absolutely nothing about) actually has different views on governmental policy is somewhat less in-tune with the US system. If you're not currently a US citizen, well, by all means feel free to rant and rave. But if you are... maybe you should try "convincing" instead of attacking. That's enough of a start.

Popular Mechanics-like pro-war hype

[intnsred]

Oh boy, just what the American taxpayer needs to pay for -- another useless war toy to feed the military-industrial complex and encourage more wars.

What, are the 50-year old B-52 bombers not capable of dropping bombs? Are the newer B-1 and B-2 bombers inadequate? Why the hell is the US the only country stupid enough to waste their resources on such war toys? Is the fact that the US spends as much on defense[sic] as roughly THE REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED not enough?!

Meanwhile, the US runs huge budget deficits, talks about killing (err, I mean "privatizing") social security, and all the time our schools (and economy) deteriorate, and tens of millions of Americans go without health care.

We've got our head stuck up our ass -- and Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and the other military contractors laugh all the way to the bank... :-(