Superior HK XM8 Kicks M4's Ass

Evan Williams wrote:


The problem with being "Tip of the Spear" is that every time you turn
around, all you see is the shaft!

I have the utmost respect for the abilities of engineers. I just wish
that the maintainers had more to say about the design as it is being
designed.

Actually, the A-10 is an example of just such a plane.
(Though nowhere near as packed with black boxes as an F-4.)
A number of experienced NCO maintainers had near-veto power
over some of the component-positioning decisions on the A-10.

I started out on F-4S's which when designed, MacAir's policy was
"If you could put your hand in a compartment, something is missing". As a
result on a good day it would take about four hours to change out a fuse on
our electrical fusing power supply. On the other hand, I could sit in the
cockpit and depending on what worked with the switches in different
positions I could tell you exactly what was broken. Basically you could
have forked hay all of your life but if you had common sense you could fix
the aircraft. For the sidewinder missile system, we had an AN/AWM-20B test
set.

Memory check: Nope. The -20 checkers were for AIM-7 stations;
Lots of solenoid "eyeballs" for checking the different functions.

It had two knobs one on top of the other and a meter. Each step of
the test you would move a knob to a different position and read the meter.
If a step failed you instantly knew what was wrong. It was dead nuts
simple.

Sounds like a GWM-4 tester. Used on the AIM-9 launchers -
as long as you remembered to remove ALL of the missiles from
the other wing before starting the checks!

Then we transitioned to the F/A-18. OH MY GOD! It's all about
computers talking to computers.

That was the same set of problems as the F-16 hunk-o'-junk.
("Current software is capable of accurately diagnosing 80%
of detectable faults...". Yeah, right. Who gets to fix the
remaining 20%? What about the guy stuck with a persistent
"non-detectable" fault?)

That's where the system of "smart machine, dumb technician"
failed miserably.