[simpits-tech] the pain - the horrid pain

[Brian Sikkema]

>The Dept. of Defense is like a spoiled child.  If they can't play with a 
>toy, they're going to make damn sure that nobody else can either.

To be fair, while the Nighthawk may be old, first-generation stealth, it's still a generation ahead of anything anyone else in the 
world has. I don't know if many people really grasp the full meaning of the fact that, while we've had it down pat for over 20 
years, NOBODY else has fielded stealth aircraft. Nobody. That kind of technological edge in this day and age is amazing. After 
all, how long did we hold the edge on the atomic bomb? A few years?

While the shape of the F-117 may be very old news, I'd imagine the Radar Absorbant Material (RAM) is still, while old, very much 
classified. And while it can of course be removed and painted with just regular paint (after all, Wright-Patt has both an F-117 
and a B-2) it would certainly be WAY more expensive to de-mil, as it were, all these aircraft for display somewhere. And we're 
certainly not letting anyone else have this stuff.

Besides the obvious security issues, most people don't realize that the RAM is nasty, NASTY toxic stuff. I'll spare the details 
but I've talked to guys with experience with it and it is BAD. So even without security considerations, there's no way they could 
send it to any Museum as is, and of course the toxicity makes it that much more expensive/hassle to deal with. And the Air Force 
isn't exactly swimming in money right now. Last figures I heard for our 2009 budget is we were 18 BILLION with a B underfunded.

Sad as these pictures are, I think it's the only way this could have gone.

Brian