US Defense & Aerospace – Prone to Drone and Crash & Burn!

Grab ahold of your joysticks boys, 2020s are gonna be a bumpy ride! Palantir and friends, hear White House called on you. Right, startups with itchy fingers looking to profit. What a difference two wars and sea battles make.

Pentagon, do you see wars in Ukraine-Russia, Israel-Palestine and Red Sea as a tactical opportunity to field test new gadgets? Weapon systems can be reconstructed and recalibrated to militaries’ specifications.

Gaza and Lebanon ideal for short-range missiles? How about facial and persona recognition software integrated into drones – programmed to take out male targets? US, unlike your southern border tower monitoring (inefficient and ineffective misuse of time, tech and funding) Israel is armed to strike.

Great for business, right Pal and friends? As Michael Horowitz, et al. point out, “future research on proliferation should not assume that supply- and demand-side factors are constant across time and that regime type only affects the demand for military technologies.” Lucky for you boys, USA is Power and Profit driven.

Lockheed, see ROI? Ask Boeing. Hear they’ve invested in Fortem since 2018. So Lockheed, when you say “ensuring the U.S. and its allies stay ahead of ready,” how did you ensure Israel ‘stay ahead’ of getting ambushed?

In 2020, US failed in operation objective. As Horowitz et al. point out, “to deter future Iranian attacks, the US assassinated general Qasem Soleimani…utilizing an armed drone.” Instead, appears US provoked current WAR between Hamas – Israel and ongoing Red Sea battles. Recall, “Houthi rebels also used armed drones to attack Saudi oil-processing facilities…” aided some argue by Iran.

Weapons for Ukraine: MIA or Diverted?  Hmm, wonder where those unaccounted “40,000 US Weapons sent to Ukraine” are? As to UAV proliferation could it be as Horowitz, et al. tell us that “status-seeking states are more likely to pursue armed UAVs than non-status-seeking states…”?

Retired Colonel Mark Cancian calls missing weapons a “red flag in that the tracking system for weapons…has broken down in wartime…we’re not able to track them.” Funny, they can’t track the tracking system of UAS and missiles used for tracking.

USA + nato provoked Russia leading to invasion of Ukraine. Fortem, read a month before Russia invaded Ukraine that you were just ‘circling the drain’ and ‘things haven’t yet picked up…” Right, what a difference two wars and sea battle makes. 

Lockheed, hear you invested in Fortem last year when they offered their ‘support in Ukraine fighting suicide drones like the Shahed-136.’  Two years into war, how’s Ukraine faring?

Maybe Skydio fares better. But what does it say of one of their investors, “Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm and early backer of OpenAI,” who appears more concerned with tech copyright liability than Intellectual Property. Lockheed, tell me you’re not concerned for IP of stealth bomber and nuclear rocket?

Rocket Misfire?

Boeing and Lockheed, looks like in your attempt to decouple from SpaceX you’ve put your moon lander at risk coupling up with Bozo. Can’t say I didn’t see this coming.

Recall my paper last July, “Mmm, A long hot summer of wet dreams!” I point out to sea commanders and sky ramblers, HEED thy ship LOCK not and sinks or fails in its launch, 3, 2, 1, 0… ҉

Nuclear reactor companies looking to repurpose the W45 which reportedly used a fission core? It is documented that “The W45 was a multipurpose American nuclear warhead.” Oops, did I spoil the surprise 🙂

Ready to Fly the Deadly Skies?

“WE are in a dive here….at 26,000 feet…vertical dive…lost vertical control of our airplane…You hear that? Ahhhhhhhhhhh…here we go!”

Reportedly, the last recorded words of Captain of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 flying McDonnell Douglas MD-83 on January 31, 2000 taking its final plunge.

Sends chills down your spine. But what was even more disturbing was discovering how easily this plane’s tragic plunge into the ocean as well as other air disasters could have been averted.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation concluded maintenance was the overarching factor resulting in system failure. In their Final Report:

“This is a maintenance accident. Alaska Airlines’ maintenance and inspection of its horizontal stabilizer activation system were poorly conceived and woefully executed. The failure was compounded by poor oversight … Had any of the managers, mechanics, inspectors, supervisors, or FAA overseers whose job it was to protect this mechanism done their job conscientiously, this accident cannot happen … “

MAX twin crashes? Heard that “Boeing in 2021 agreed to acknowledge liability” as well as acquiesce that the passengers of the two deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes were scared shitless before plane went down!

But can you sue a company responsible for literally scaring you to death?  “U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas separately ruled last year the 346 killed in the 737 MAX crashes were legally “crime victims” and wrote “Boeing’s crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.”

But no thanks to the DODs practice of cutting deals, an “agreement with the plane maker gave Boeing immunity from criminal prosecution over fraud conspiracy charges related to the plane’s flawed design.”

Boeing Executives, appears nothing changed. First the recent Japan crash and then Alaska 737 MAX 9 blowout. Another case of “Design Flaws’? Air Disasters points to “When former race car driver Niki Lauda’s planes nosedives into a Thai jungle, a one-in-a-million failure reveals a weak spot in every Boeing 767.”

Dave, what you call a ‘mistake’ has cost thousands of lives and shareholders’ losses. Will YOU put your life and money on your birds? Right. Now try to convince China and other would be buyers. Good luck!

Airbus, looks like you’re now flying the friendlier skies. But will Boeing protest again over ‘launch aid?’ Right, don’t hear them complaining about US military contracts and large tax breaks.

Lockheed and Boeing, like GM and TESLA, will you too recall your Rockets, ‘Stealth Bombers,’ or MAXs ‘over fire risk.’?

James and Dave, hey, its election year. Perhaps it’s time to vote you out. As some have said, “Let the chips fall where they may.”  Oops, did I spoil the surprise 🙂

Smartphones today are our ‘Blackboxes.’ Sure, we can record our final flight destination. But why not avert it? If we can track the weather and Boeing’s stock on our smartphone why not data of a plane before we board it?

So some years back, I started working on features for an app. Like buying a car, access aircrafts’ accident and service records, etc. Yep, got an App for that, JETrack©! Or, do you dare fly the unfriendly skies and take your final flight destination?