Comment by sneak | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sneak | Hacker News Reader

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At some point we as a society need to admit that both the space program and the "defense" sector are just jobs programs and aren't really there to build anything useful. One need only look at the Space Launch System or the F-35.

They're mechanisms for transferring tax money to gigantic employers that employ people across zillions of different congressional districts. It's a doublespeak to avoid having millions of people on a program that would otherwise be termed "socialism" or "welfare".

SpaceX/Starlink, on the other hand, are more interested in shipping and servicing customers and getting revenue thereby than being approved by a constituency and/or the existing military-industrial complex.

The DoD and SpaceX were built for drastically different purposes, and it's no surprise that they have drastically different change control procedures.

I personally find the fact that world’s 2nd or 3rd most feared military is getting its ass kicked by the US defense sector’s bargain bin a strong argument against your point.

There’s obviously a ton of pork and SLS in particular is a known welfare program, but that’s not a fair critique of F-35 nor of the defense sector writ large.

That Russia is worse doesn't mean we are good.

Fortunately we don't have to be very good to be better than our peers.

It literally means we are the best in the world.

Well, it is a very big jobs program.

That's fair.

The F35 program is really blown out of proportion. Yes it is easy to criticize and point to many mistakes, but the fact is that virtually every next generation fighter project is a colossal management nightmare. I find it somewhat confusing that the F22 is universally beloved yet it is arguably a failure of sorts (limited production run, few prospects for its future).

Honestly I feel like the F35 is a target in the “information warfare” space. While the project is not above criticism, China/Russia/etc have every reason to promote animosity towards the project.

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