[texas booster]

I remember a sci fi short story about a general being tried for his part in a major space defeat.

The military kept building one more “perfect” weapon, which grew so complicated and expensive that it couldn't work, and the Earth was defeated.

It mocked the US military, practically any time from the 50’s to the 90’s, but it made sense to me as completely possible.

The pursuit of the perfect weapon is often the start of a malaise that corrodes an organization from the inside out.

[MNJohnnie]

I read that story as mocking Hitler’s German since it exactly reflected what happened inside the 3rd Reich

[Starboard]

The pursuit of the perfect weapon is often the start of a malaise that corrodes an organization from the inside out.

**************

I agree because complexity is hard to manage. Introducing more of it (i.e., complexity on top of complexity) can give rise to a dysfunctional nightmare and reliability concerns. Unfortunately, we seem to be infatuated with increasing sophistication, which is OK to a point, but there's always a risk of over reliance on highly sophisticated weapons. I wonder if that dependence will be found to be misplaced in a hostile electronic warfare environment?

The Bizmarck story provides an instructive lesson:

"Wobbling unsteadily towards the Bismarck at barely 100 MPH, the Swordfish flew so slowly that the Bismarck’s modern, sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons could not track their motion slowly enough to get an accurate bead on them and shoot them down.