(Stuf4) wrote:

From Scott Kozel:

If GPS had such a high military justification as you assert, then they
wouldn't have taken 18 years to implement the system (even the first 10
"Block 1" satellites took 7-1/2 years to implement), they probably would
have done the whole 24 in 3 years or less.

Had this capability been considered necessary, then I would agree. A
key factor to remember here is that no one knew for sure whether GPS
would actually work (let alone work so well).

Three satellites would have been sufficient to fully test the concept.

They started launching in 1978, and by the time they were finished in
1996, the Cold War had been over for five years. That shows that they
put hardly any priority on GPS.

It uses the label "National Defense Highway System" several times, which
is incorrect, there never has been a USA highway system by that name,
and sources like that are among those who perpetuate military myths
about the Interstate highway system.

It is quite common for legislation to be known by a short title.
Often, the short title is specified within the legislation itself. So
where did this short name come from?

It came from the writer of www.globalsecurity.org. I've never seen it
anywhere else.

While we can agree that "National Defense Highway System" was not the
official title, I have no problem with its use as a short title.

I have a big problem with that very misleading name. It suggests that
"national defense" is the sole purpose of the Interstate highway system,
when that is and was only a minor role. It doesn't include the very
predominant "Interstate", which is the one system-related word that is
on the red-white-and-blue shield highway route markers.

Commonly used "short titles" such as "Interstate System" and "Interstate
Highway System", are appropriate and accurate, and implicitly would
include the transportation of all types of vehicles, people and cargoes,
both civil and military.

And I find your criticism of "military myths" particularly curious,
especially since you have stated that you have a wealth of background
on the matter. Here are quotes from a speech prepared by Eisenhower
himself:

...cited five "penalties" of the nation's obsolete highway network:
the annual death and injury toll, the waste of billions of dollars
in detours and traffic jams, the clogging of the nation's courts
with highway-related suits, the inefficiency in the transportation
of goods, and "the appalling inadequacies to meet the demands of
catastrophe or defense, should an atomic war come."

Of the "five penalties" cited in one Eisenhower speech, four were purely
civil and only one was for defense; and each of those four "civil
penalties" were -huge-.

Because of the significance of the interstate system to national
defense, Fallon changed the official name to the "National System
of Interstate and Defense Highways." This new name remained in all
future House versions and was adopted in 1956.

Like I said, the system was officially named "National System of
Interstate Highways" when it was first established by Congress in 1943,
and the "and defense" was tacked on in 1956, the year that final
approval for construction occurred and actual construction began.

Where did I find these quotes? On the very webpage that you provided:

From the official DOT website for the Federal Highway Administration:
http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/summer96/p96su10.htm

(I don't know whether you didn't bother reading the page you linked,
or whether you are choosing to ignore it.)

Of course I read it, Stuffie. You found the word "defense" in there,
and think you can make that the main justification for the Interstate
system, when in fact it was a minor element.

I said "quite accurate in their own right", as before GPS, U.S. ICBMs
were accurate enough to hit point hardened targets, U.S. manned bombers
were accurate enough to hit point hardened targets, and U.S. SLBMs were
accurate enough to hit cities, ports and industrial centers (but not
point targets).

I don't disagree with that. But once again...

The percentage expected to hit accurately with GPS is greater than
without. This fact is encompassed by the term "force multiplier".

By itself it doesn't do anything, and it wasn't completed until well
after the Cold War had ended.

--
Scott M. Kozel Highway and Transportation History Websites
Virginia/Maryland/Washington, D.C. http://www.roadstothefuture.com
Philadelphia and Delaware Valley http://www.pennways.com