Re:How can England possibly be running out of water?
by Earw0rm on Tuesday September 09, 2025 @10:15AM
(#45182259)
This is efficient if you actually _need_ hundreds or thousands of units.
Which was clearly the case in WW2.
And _might_ be the case if the confrontation with China is proxy wars. Hundreds or thousands of spare units (of tanks, AA, helicopters, fighter jets) would be useful in Ukraine, for example.
But it's hard to see a use-case for hundreds of B-2s, for example. By the time those things are flying in anger, twenty or thirty will do everything you're ever going to do.
Re:How can England possibly be running out of water?
by mschuster91 on Tuesday September 09, 2025 @01:03PM
(#45184950)
> But it's hard to see a use-case for hundreds of B-2s, for example.
Sell them to allies. But ever since both Trump and Biden seriously restricted Ukraine from defending itself... let's say the US isn't among the most trusted arms suppliers these days. A lot of soft power, just gone.
Re:How can England possibly be running out of water?
by Earw0rm on Tuesday September 09, 2025 @01:22PM
(#45185244)
I'm from the UK, one of your wealthier allies. We can't afford to buy or operate B-2's. Not sure who could.. Taiwan? Saudi? Israel?
Re:How can England possibly be running out of water?
by coryrc on Tuesday September 09, 2025 @01:39PM
(#45185497)
Taiwan isn't that wealthy and all bombers all be destroyed by PRC in the first salvo, so not any point in having them.
Re:How can England possibly be running out of water?
by mschuster91 on Tuesday September 09, 2025 @01:43PM
(#45185550)
I'm German actually. We used to buy lots of American weapons but ... let's say we are reevaluating priorities at the moment.
Better have expensive boats than no boats, particularly when preparing to wage war with a country that can be reached either by air - which means either missiles or nuclear bombers - or by water, the only option allowing for conventional warfare.
That's the thing we all have to prepare for, the inevitable confrontation with China.
In any case, the secret to cheap building is scale. When all you build is a few boats, planes or god knows what a year, of course each will be expensive. But if you build dozens, hundreds or - just look to WW2 - thousands of units, suddenly efficiencies of scale and standardization really kick in.