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US Navy's $700 Million Mine-drone Won't Hunt (cnn.com)
New submitter ripvlan writes: CNN reports that a $700 million mine hunting system created by Lockheed Martin doesn't perform as expected. From the article: "The Remote Minehunting System, or RMS, was developed for the Navy's new littoral combat ship. But the Defense Department's Office of Operational Test & Evaluation says the drone hunting technology was unable to consistently identify and destroy underwater explosives during tests dating back to September 2014. ... In theory, the drone is deployed from the LCS towing sonar detection into suspected underwater minefields. The drone should then identify mines and communicate information about their whereabouts to the ship in real time so the explosives can be avoided or destroyed. But the program has come under fire from lawmakers after a series of testing failures, including continued performance issues and "RMS mission package integration challenges," according to the Defense Department's Office of Operational Test & Evaluation's 2014 annual report."
Of course it won't hunt - they named it RMS, so it's refusing to operate until all of its software is completely free and open. Guess they'd better start working on GNU/Mine Hunter.
It can't find mines for the LCS? That's littorally useless.
eh heh heh heh.
Anyway I wish I could charge $700e6 for a project that doesn't work.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Is that 700 mil taxpayer money? If so, here is a solution: Don't pay the contractor a penny until they produce a working production sample. Then buy them for the original contacted price, not any additional "cost overruns"
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
I, for one, am disappointed the Navy is using the acronym LCS for Littoral Combat Ship, instead of the more imaginative C LITTORAL. At Cape Lisburne Airforce Station, the close-circuit TV network was named Cape LIsburne Internal Television. Yeah, now idea what was on those guy's minds...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
And it will cost jillions to correct the problems.
Military and "security" projects are the only "big gov't jobs programs" supported by Republicans. (Except they still benefit mostly the 1%.) Both parties are socialists, but disguise it differently.
Table-ized A.I.
I worked on this project for a few years. It is the epitome of government waste
the hardware is 20+ years old and due to bureaucracy, upgrades are rare and expensive to initiate. There are a few alternatives that work! This project is not getting cancelled because I suspect someone is getting paid big money to keep this alive. All the LM team I worked for was/is incompetent.
Experimental combat systems don't always work the first time. The big issue is more the massive fraud--you sell it all to Congress with one budget knowing it is going to cost at least three times as much if magical unicorn engineers don't show up from the future and tell you how to make it all work. With another few years of development it'll get better and better. This is still fairly important in terms of conventional engagements because mines are relatively cheap and easy to build.
As much as I don't like how the F-35 program has been managed... Trying to build an aircraft that is all things to all of the services was a really bad idea, but having common parts and support equipment will be a big advantage eventually which will someday help make up for the botched development effort.
The F35 isn't really that bad, considering. Yes it's behind schedule and over budget by quite a margin, but I think it has real possibilities and is well on it's way to realize much of it's expected capabilities in the air but will *really* be an advantage on the ground where all the services will share the same maintenance equipment, supply line and parts inventories. It's not a horrible platform for any of it's intended roles, in fact it really is acceptable in all of them. Yea, it's not exceptional in any role, but that's because it is a compromise solution to start with.
So, really, the F35 isn't going to turn out that bad, it's just going to be later and more expensive than intended.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
. race to the bottom.
I see what you did there...
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Disclaimer: I am an R&D EE for the US NAVY, which is why I'm posting as an AC.
If I could only tell you all about how many projects fucking contractors screw up you would be amazed. Raytheon couldn't find their ass with both hands taped to it and Lockheed isn't any better. the last project I worked on with a contractor (Raytheon) had more than 15 engineers and 30 support personnel on it, and they STILL couldn't get it done right. 20 Million+ later the NAVY finally yanked it and we did it with 4 engineers and 1 Tech for less than 1 million. It's now being used by both the NAVY and the Coasties.. Contractors are leeches. contractors are clues (for the more part). Contractors just suck.
It transferred nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer public money into private hands.
But socialism is terrible if it's for medical care for everyone. Greasing up a slick billionaire's rectum, though, perfectly fine!
Imagine that, another multibillion dollar Lockheed project that doesn't perform as ordered. And people complain about the $500/mo that a single mom gets in welfare.
Lets throw tons of explosives and carpet bomb an area that may or may not have mines. The MCLC works because it it creates narrow paths through minefields that can be followed by vehicles. These paths need to be about 20 feet wide. For a ship that path would need to be much wider. MCLC also works by over pressure triggering pressure sensitive mines. It would have no effect on acoustic or magnetic triggered mines.
Especially if you measure by the pound.
You are welcome on my lawn.
True.. However, the F35 isn't the only game in town for each of the roles it is designed for.
What the pentagon has done is to acquire purpose built, best in class, air superiority fighter in the F-22. These aircraft are what will take on the Chinese and Russian fighters and establish air superiority long before the F-35 starts doing it's business. So where the F-35 might not have a good ratio with the top of the line offerings from China or Russia, that's not a big issue, it can hold it's own with what's out there, but if attrition becomes an issue it will be a short term one once the F22's arrive.
We are not going into a ground war without owning the skies (or being stupid). In most of the world, the F-35 will be more than enough to establish air superiority and keep it, then load up with bombs and do the close air support role. In those places where the F-35 is outmatched in the skies the F-22 will take care of establishing air superiority and turn the area over to the cheaper F-35 to maintain.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Where they *really* differ is in audience size and rate of change. CNN is in a long term down hill slide which has been going on for more than a decade. Fox is generally been able to attract a larger and larger audience in that same time frame. Fox is being successful, CNN is dying.
Meanwhile, in the Real World, where we can look at charts of actual numbers we see that this is nonsense. Fox News viewership peaked in 2009 and has been dropping ever since. CNN has followed a similar downward trend (it peaked a year earlier in 2008) but has maintained a steady market share for several years, its drop merely paralleling Fox's decline.
It is interesting that the common liberal refrain is that Fox News is lying about stuff while CNN isn't. Or the alternate perspective that Fox News is unbiased and CNN is. Reality is BOTH are biased in their own ways, and if anything Fox is more creditable given that it's audience is growing while CNN's is in decline ...
If only we didn't have studies like this one that shows that Fox "News" viewers score below those with no information while CNN viewers score above this information-free cohort.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj