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In its ongoing series of interviews of the authors of The Pentagon Labyrinth: 10 Short Essays to Help You Through It, Federal News Radio's DorobekInsider Show interviewed Pierre Sprey. Together with a very small number of others, Sprey was responsible for two of the most successful combat aircraft the US Air Force has acquired in recent decades: the F-16 and the A-10. (While they pretty much refuse to take credit for them [as lesser designs], the same group was also largely responsible for the F-15 and the F-18. For an explanation, see Robert Coram's biography of John Boyd: Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War.) Sprey has also been an intimate observer of - and also sometimes a participant in - the designs of other weapons, including combat rifles and tanks. His observations about the fundamentals of effective weapons design will come as a stark surprise to many, but they are grounded in real world success.
In his interview with Federal News Radio's Chris Dorobek, Sprey explains some of the basic principles for distinguishing effective weapons from ineffective - but high cost - losers. Find this interview at http://www.federalnewsradio.
Time constraints prevented the interview from addressing all of Sprey's rules for evaluating weapons. If you want to hear an oral explanation of the rest, go to C-SPAN's BookTV presentation of a discussion of The Pentagon Labyrinth. Go to minute 11 of the discussion at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/
The book is free at these, and other, websites.
If you are interested in an interview of any of the authors of The Pentagon Labyrinth or a presentation by any of them who might be available, contact me at winslowwheeler@msn.com. We will accommodate your request in any way possible.
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Winslow T. Wheeler
Director
Straus Military Reform Project
Center for Defense Information
301 791-2397
Winslow T. Wheeler
Director
Straus Military Reform Project
Center for Defense Information
301 791-2397
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