Air Force Lt. Col. Dan Ward did a cost/benefit analysis of a fictional project for the Pentagon's in-house publication Defense AT&L Magazine. It's a cautionary tale about the Empire's Death Star.
Ward says that droids are a much better bargain for any military budget. It's tongue-in-cheek, of course, but can be related to some actual military spending projects. Read more about it at Wired's Danger Room blog. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
Previously/Related: The Economics of Death Star Planet Destruction
The Empire’s answer to Ash Carter should have seen it coming. It’s embarrassing enough that the galaxy’s supposedly most fearsome weapon was felled by crappy duct work.
But it was entirely predictable. A project so big and complex, Ward writes, will invariably stretch the oversight capabilities of acquisition staff. In this case, it led to manufacturing delays and prevented the Empire from realizing that one of its thermal-exhaust ports was a de facto self-destruct button.
Moreover, for all the expense poured into it – $15.6 septillion and 94 cents, to be precise — the Death Star is destroyed twice, and in its two iterations only ever manages to get off a few shots.
Ward says that droids are a much better bargain for any military budget. It's tongue-in-cheek, of course, but can be related to some actual military spending projects. Read more about it at Wired's Danger Room blog. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
Previously/Related: The Economics of Death Star Planet Destruction
(Wait till I'm done. I'll fix them.)