Courtney,
Thank you for your kind words.
Not_a_Boffin,
It is a paradox as to how to revolutionise defence solutions.
I am going to use Apple as a an example of solution provision. Up until Apple released the iPhone all other mobile telephone producers had come to an understanding that improvements in technology would be held back, releasing one or two improvements a year. In this way they could maximise their profits. Apple came along and released a "revolutionary" mobile telephone. Except it wasn't; revolutionary that is. Apple made use of technology already used, but packaged it in such a way that they produced an item that was miles better than their competitors. So, not a revolution, just look at what's available and get Steve Jobs to manage the design and development programme.
Another example is streamer technology that is used by Seismic companies. The military could learn an awful lot from the civvies at a relatively cheap price and produce an awfully brilliant towed array.
Solutions might include the use of universities (with no Chinese in attendance) to be provided with funding (low level), to make use of the mad nutter inventors that the UK is so good at producing and, stealing ideas from the Chinese (who steal them from the US).
Sorry for not continuing, time for Egyptian PT.
Oh yes; I forgot.
We don't need to revolutionise. Leave that to others. The Soviets had the right idea. Numbers matter. What they didn't have was the training. Training matters very much. Steal ideas from others once the technology is proven. a 96% solution is better than a 99% solution when you have the numbers, the skills and something that works.
Last edited by hval; 4th Oct 2012 at 12:08.
Reason: I forgot