Hacker News Reader

>Fortress rolled off the drawing board and onto the runway in a mere 12 months

Now that's something you don't see these days! I wonder what has slowed development so much, is it more complexity? It seems like a B-17 would be considered extremely complex in 1940.

View on HN

by 1940 it was already 4 years old :P in terms of development i assume this refers to the field of aircraft design, and i think it might not be obvious at first how dizzyingly complex modern aircraft can get. aerodynamics is already a complicated thing, but then you have to design around stealthiness. since your goal is both, physically operating such a vehicle would be almost impossible because of instability issues, so you now have to design software that will smooth out the aircraft as it flies, while still allowing the pilot to do exactly what they want, when they need to. now you have to find parts that will allow all of that to come together - powerplant, materials, etc - for example, even the paint for stealth aircraft had to be developed to help reduce radar signature, etc etc etc

More complexity, more rules (especially when it comes to aircraft!), less pressure (the countries under attack in WW2 had to innovate or perish), etc. I'm sure you can design and build a plane within a year nowadays, but unlike at that time, there's not really a need.

But yeah, fast design + construction is still a thing; think startup hackathons / POCs, 24-hour game jams, prefab high-rise buildings, Coronavirus vaccines, etc.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com