You know, if Luke Skywalker hadn't listened to Obi Wan and switched
off his targeting computer that Death-star would still be out there
menacing peaceful planets.
Good job the Rebels didn't disable manual over-ride.
Good job the Rebels didn't disable manual over-ride.
There are many good reasons why one would want a manual over-ride. The imagination of popular script writers is not one of them.
It's a good, and perhaps trivially true theory, insomuch as warfare is always bluff. I think by mid-80's the writing was already on the wall with respect to Soviet over-reach and CIA knew that.
But don't you think the ruskie scientists knew "space lasers" were never going to happen? As I understand it, the best we ever got were some kinds of chemical MASERs (Ammonium liquid phase) that could take out a slow missile at a couple of kilometres on a perfect day. Any confirmed advances on that?
Ironically enough, in the context of this thread, such weapons absolutely could not function without total computer control of the ranging and targeting angle.
Evidently the brass were not confident of that.
Did I wander into a convention of TREKKIES? :)