May 17, 2001

1:23 PM

Russia no longer has any photo-recon satellites in orbit and doesn't seem to care, New Zealand is disbanding its air force's air combat capabilities, and America is pushing for a Missile Defense Shield - Star Wars II. Make what you will of American military policies, I am just weirded out that someone out there in the targeted banner-ad world thinks I am in the market to buy a submarine.
posted by tamim (9 comments total)

i think the ad with the submarine is for some type of detection system, not the sub....because obviously, only very few people want to buy a sub, but everyone wants to know when one is around.
posted by th3ph17 at 1:50 PM on May 17, 2001

only very few people want to buy a sub, but everyone wants to know when one is around.

I know what you mean, I've seen some strange lights around the pool and something brushed by me in the tub the other night...
posted by RevGreg at 2:13 PM on May 17, 2001

Many years ago, we all lived in a yellow submarine. snug. Nice. What happened since?
posted by Postroad at 2:17 PM on May 17, 2001

Submarines are increasingly important because they don't fly. Lockheed Martin builds aircraft but now sees commercial opportunities for underwater craft. New Zealand's too far to fly but has lots of water. Russia sunk a submarine, it doesn't care because it can't afford to so the banner-ad isn't very targeted. (arguably).
posted by mackieb at 3:17 PM on May 17, 2001

You know, if there was some kind of rebate or coupon I might consider buying a submarine online.
posted by Doug at 3:37 PM on May 17, 2001

Why on earth did New Zealand have an Air Force in the first place?
posted by Chairman_MaoXian at 3:52 PM on May 17, 2001

Well, air power remains critical to controlling a battlefield. But New Zealand maintained an air combat force during the Cold War with the expectation that it might be needed to counter threats against coalition partners, including Britain, the US, and Australia.

What they're doing is scaling back from a strategic power-projection military -- where they would provide small bits of a much larger multinational force -- to a regional maritime-based defense philosophy. They'll still have an air force, but it will play more of a support role in coastal defense.
posted by dhartung at 9:31 PM on May 17, 2001

Why should New Zealand pay millions for an airforce when the US pays billions to keep Seventh Fleet carrier groups on patrol in the South Pacific?
posted by MattD at 9:39 AM on May 18, 2001

"Why should New Zealand pay millions for an airforce when the US pays billions to keep Seventh Fleet carrier groups on patrol in the South Pacific?"

We just lak ta see ahr boys so naice in tha uniforms.
posted by Catch at 6:27 PM on May 18, 2001