Put simply: it could be taken out by a WWII Japanese kamikaze pilot.

justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:24:12 -0800

What's as big as a battleship, looks like a star destroyer, and can't do much of anything? A Zumwalt class destroyer! (US Navy DDG-1000) $10 billion spent on research so far, and (assuming typical cost overruns) it may cost as much as $5 billion per ship. Due to its cost, the Zumwalt program was already in trouble when, on Thursday, the navy revealed for the first time that the ship can do far less than advertised. Most importantly, contrary to its manufacturer's design specifications, "the DDG-1000 cannot perform area air defense; specifically, it cannot successfully employ the Standard Missile-2 (SM-2), SM-3 or SM-6." "Area air defense" means using surface-to-air missiles to shoot down enemy anti-ship missiles while those anti-ship missiles are still far away. This is not a new idea; the "Standard" series of missiles dates back to the start of the Vietnam war. Since anti-ship missiles are now quite commonplace (Hezbollah seems to have used one in 2006), a Zumwalt could not go anywhere without an also-very-expensive escort to defend it. Informed bloggery can be found here .Thanks to "Fauxmaxbaer," whose comment at this blog here gave my post its title. Yes, the post title is hyperbole, but not by much.

It's like deja vu all over again!

bas67 — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 08:23:24 -0800

CNN's Nuke Plant Photos Identical for Both Iran and N. Korea! "Two stories posted in the last week on the CNN website, one on nukes in Iran last Wednesday, and another on nukes in North Korea on Saturday, both use the same aerial photograph of the same purported nuclear power plant! But one is supposed to be in Iran and the other is supposed to be in North Korea!"

MetaFilter posts tagged with boondoggle

Put simply: it could be taken out by a WWII Japanese kamikaze pilot.

It's like deja vu all over again!