Boeing Awarded Contract For Next-Generation Harpoon Block III Missile

eatfastnoodle wrote:

:On Feb 2, 2:11*pm, Fred J. McCall wrote:
: eatfastnoodle wrote:
:
: :On Feb 2, 2:24*am, Fred J. McCall wrote:: wrote:
:
: :
: : :See:
: : :
: : :http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Boei..._For_Next_Gene...
: : :
: : :How much longer will the Navy keep upgrading Harpoon before
: : :switching to a newer, possibly supersonic, weapon?
: : :
: :
: : This one seems to fall into the "if it works, don't **** with it"
: : category.
: :
: : What do you want a newer weapon to do that would work better than
: : what's already there and in the development plan?
: :
: :
: :F14/F15/F16/F18 certainly work, so why do we spend tens of billions of
: :dollars on F22/F35? Why not just buy newer upgraded version of Eagle
: :and Falcon? Cause the enemies aren't sitting still, what works today
: :might not work tomorrow, you must plan for the future.
: :
:
: I'll simply note you dodge the question.
:
: Let me ask again. *What do you want a newer weapon to do that would
: work better than what's already there and in the development plan?
:
: As for the aircraft you mention, we knew what new requirements we had
: (supercruise, stealth, improved maintenance rates, etc).
:
: So what do you want to add to Harpoon that isn't already in the
: roadmap?
:
: --
: "Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the
: *truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong."
: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *-- Thomas Jefferson
:
:Supersonic speed is a good capability addition.
:

Why? What does it get you? The missile is already 20x faster than
what you're shooting it at.

Capability isn't free. If you want a supersonic anti-ship missile, it
has to be bigger (which means you can carry fewer of them), fly higher
(to escape reflections of its own shockwave from the surface), etc.

:
:Russians are selling
:supersonic anti-ship missiles to anybody willing to pay, investing in
:new missiles at least can help fending off Russian competition on the
:international arms export market.
:

You don't make sales by copying them. You make sales by having more
capable kit.

What about "supersonic speed" is worth the costs of adding it (in both
money and traded off capabilities)?


--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw