A thought experiment in strategic economics: The B-36 - TopicsExpress



          

A thought experiment in strategic economics: The B-36 Peacemaker first flew on 8 August, 1946; one year after the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki. This airplane is fascinating because, using only WWII technology (like propeller-driving piston diesel engines), it was able to achieve a payload on par with the B-29 and a combat radius of roughly 4,000 statute miles. This would have put all of Japan within direct bombing range of Midway Island and Unalaska Island, which were in US hands throughout the entire Pacific War. Apart from the inherent tragedy of war itself, the waste of life on all sides, there was -potentially- an American tragedy revealed by, first,the proximity of the B-36s invention to the end of the Second World War, and second, its lack of novel technology. One is wonders: could this bomber have been made sooner, or waited for, so as to circumvent the entire island hopping campaign? Through 1944 and 1945, numerous Japanese home-Islands and strategic archipelagos under occupation had to be captured by massive amphibious campaigns in support of B-29 sorties against Honshu, Kyushu and other hostile industrial centers. Those raids were designed to end the war, and although they succeeded, capturing the islands had cost more American and Japanese lives than both modern conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan would claim. Who might have gone on living if American combined strategy merely focused on containing Japanese naval aggression until such projects as the B-36 could be fielded? How many might survive future wars if certain attainable but yet-unrealized technologies could be waited-out or expedited as a matter of national strategy? Was this not, after all, the idea behind the Atomic Bomb? That much offered, I think such questions shouldnt raise accusations of failed leadership on parts of theater commanders who had to amass limited resources in the face grave threat and scant information about its size and movement - aggressiveness was prudent. But I think examples like the B-36 might make room for us to look further into the overpowering capacity of innovation to change the rules of war even as wars are being fought... Since the USs greatest advantage over any enemy has, since 1812, been the pace and ingenuity of our industry, why not capitalize on this more as a matter of national strategy? Could it not save lives, money, and effort?
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 08:04:51 +0000

Trending Topics



Recently Viewed Topics




© 2015