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[smjjames]

The 'recommissioning the battleship' sounded like an 'off the top of his head' remark, sort of like an aside while talking.

Also, CNN said that he hasn't even gone into said details yet. Unless said details were *in Schwarzenegger voice, because it'd be funny* 'I'll make the military so powerful, so FEARED, that we won't ever need to use it, and we'll be respected because of that'

Respect out of fear is really not the kind of respect that should be gained from others though....... From our enemies, maybe, but from our allies and friends, no.

Edit: Oh, he finished already. Maybe he'll do a data dump?

[RedKing]

Respect out of fear is really not the kind of respect that should be gained from others though....... From our enemies, maybe, but from our allies and friends, no.

Pfft...somebody hasn't read their Machiavelli.


Also, I'm curious if this means he plans to enlarge the military rosters to surpass China's 2.2 million active-duty, or North Korea's 7.8 million total armed (including paramilitaries like the Worker-Peasant Red Guards). Either way, they're going to have to do a whole hell of a lot of recruiting to hit those numbers. In the case of NK, that's impossible without the draft. You're talking about roughly 4% of the population in uniform -- a rate double that of Russia, and unseen in the industrialized world, outside of Finland, Israel and South Korea.

Fortress America indeed. On the flip side, we probably COULD secure the border with an army that damn big.

[mainiac]

But would we need to?  I think we'd need to make the Mexicans come in and pay as Helots just to keep things running.

[Culise]

... Recommissioning the USS Iowa? T-the age of battleships is over for the moment. O_o;

Depends on what you use them for.  The Iowa-class ships were actually kept on reserve fleet status in order to keep them maintained for potential shore bombardment support for Marine operations, and when the Navy struck them so they could be used as museum ships, Congress passed a direct act demanding they be kept in a state of readiness regardless unless the Navy could replace them as artillery platforms.  And yes, as per LW, the railgun people were indirectly part of the conditions for the Iowas being struck; the Zumwalts are supposed to replace the Iowas in that role, and those were originally intended to be able to mount railguns. 

Of course, I have no idea if that's what Trump is actually talking about, or if he's just got a belated case of gun envy over the Kirovs.

[Loud Whispers]

It's such a shame that the railguns got cut, of all the things to cut why them? A few less missiles could've covered the cost of their research. Still, at least private research continues, ensuring maximum profits if they succeed (all according to plan)

[redwallzyl]

wait? so someone is actually making battleship mounted railguns?!

[MaximumZero]

I wonder if we could launch spaceships via railgun...

[Frumple]

What I recall the answer is "maybe". Definitely, if we launch from the moon or an orbital facility. Big problem with it is keeping the spaceship in one piece in the face of that pesky "friction" thing, mostly due to air resistance.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Rail launch is a well supported alternative to rockets. In fact, a launch loop would be about as good as a Space Elevator with only a fraction of the material used.

[MaximumZero]

Neat. Sorry, guys, didn't mean to derail the thread. :3

[Frumple]

Hey, just find a candidate or political organization that's lobbying for increased use of railgun tech in space travel (or other venues). Then you can be on topic

[MaximumZero]

I'll be electable in 2020. Given the current political atmosphere, I could start campaigning now and no one would bat an eye.

[RedKing]

MaximumZero 2020: Because Seriously, You Got A Better Idea?

[Bauglir]

Look, I'm sorry, but I'm almost certainly voting Vermin Supreme 2020. Maybe I'll write you in for Vice.

[PTTG??]

PTTG 2016: You thought Bernie was a socialist.