CDR SALAMANDER: When Your VLS Hobbyhorse Goes Mainstream. “The fact we threw away an ability to reload/rearm forward was an old story inside the surface Navy when I picked it up in the last years of the previous century. We had a clunky erector set like contraption that was hard to use and took up VLS cell space, but instead of finding a better way, we just chunked the whole idea, slid in our Jesus Jones CD, and figured we had ownership of the seas until the crack of doom. There is nothing ‘until recently’ about this. Not to get off topic, but the real story here is why time and again this century’s senior leadership decided it was ‘too hard’ or ‘too dangerous’ while they were in full knowledge not just of the operational experience demanding this capability, but what we discovered over and over again in wargames. . . . We do not need to take a few POM cycles to appreciate the problem some more. This is a decades old requirement screaming for a solution.”

Elon Musk’s people would have solved this inside of six months. I’m not suggesting that they should be put on the problem — they have enough to do — but if they can do it, there must be someone else out there who could, if allowed.

Plus: “Time is not our friend. Faster. Now.”