From: Doc Bryant (rbhonk1@cox.net)
Date: Thu Aug 28 2003 - 22:47:28 PDT
Wayne:
The reason the shiny bits were removed or taped over (or otherwise obscured)
was to make it more difficult for the guy employing the weapons system to
hit the target. The laser designator works better off shiny, glossy
surfaces. And the sensor in the nose of the bomb or missile can see the
reflections off those surfaces. So, its easier for the guy doing the
shooting to hit the target. In effect, the range of the weapons system is
improved when you are lasing reflective surfaces compared to low viz
targets.
Let me add my input now to the issue about why some military vehicles are
not surplused out to the general public. Some have brought up the issue of
inside corporate deals between the manufacturer and the government. The
M151 case where the Department of Transportation did not feel these vehicles
would be safe in the hands of John Q. Public really does not adequately
address the true nature of the argument.
Military personnel are expected to put themselves in harms way. Deaths and
injuries in training occur just as they do in a wartime scenario. Military
hardware is made for a military environment where mission needs often come
ahead of any other requirement such as crew comfort, operator safety, etc.
When these vehicles (or aircraft, or any number of things the military uses)
are used in a civilian, non wartime environment, special procedures are
followed to minimize the danger to the crew and to the general population.
The various government agencies in charge of such things then decide that
once the device's useful life is through, because of these limitations to
service, and dangers that the device posesses, the device is not fit to be
released to civilian use. Law enforcement and fire services are not
considered "civilian" in this sense.
I very much doubt the reason the military vehicles we covet are kept from
our hands due to deals struck on some golf course somewhere between a
manufacturer and a military procurement guy. More likely, much more likely
its because someone took a look at the vehicle, and its mission, and said,
"Whoooo, we will have Bubbas and Bubba-ettes killing themselves in droves in
these if they get their hands on them."
AM General makes a better profit margin selling spare parts than they do
selling the complete vehicle. AM General would love to have more units
available to consume more replacement parts. If they did not see that, they
would not have released the H-1 to the general public. The cost to make it
DOT legal was much less than the profit that would be generated from a
year's run of the vehicles. Plus a couple years run of replacement parts.
What has to be done in a letter writing campaign is to find the guy who
decides the military vehicles are unsafe, and convince him a change in the
rules would not result in a higher body count on the nation's highways.
Since he's a government employee, he is pretty much safe from a product
liability lawsuit. But he is not safe from the onslaught of bad publicity
if the vehicles he released for public use become lethal weapons.
Conspiracy theory? Nope. Just CYA in action.
Doc Bryant
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