You're 100% incorrect on all your suppositions. SEs do their job, and do it very well, in most cases. What doesn't work is when people who have a TITLE of SE, but don't actually understand SE, are required to integrate SE principles into their job function. Hiring the right people is extremely essential.

That's well and good, but if you don't understand how long lead-time development is done, you can't really form a well thought out comment. Agile programming is great, and fast, iterative cycles work well for small development projects, but for systems with MILLIONS of lines of code, and hundreds of thousands of…

It's good to see someone here that has an understanding of integration and test with long lead-time systems!

Tyler, usually I agree with you, but you're really reaching here. The SDB-II didn't enter production until the beginning of 2014. It's fairly typical for a weapon to take some time to be integrated into all of its intended delivery systems. This isn't some dumb bomb, where all you need is an appropriate rack and…

I'm from the east coast, so I'm obviously biased to the weather patterns around here. The midwest and northern part of the country would likely have them, but on the east coast, it's unlikely that anyone south of northern NY would bother. While the winters get cold (record cold, this year) in southern NY, NJ, PA,…

That would be fine, actually, but I believe the only car that currently runs in a configuration like that is the Chevy Volt. I might be wrong about that, though...

We're in Mount Pleasant. Been here two years, and never leaving!

Someone else suggested that, and I think it's a fantastic idea. It wouldn't add too much weight or complexity to the system, and could be operated with relatively simple t-stats.

Technically, the SR-71s were reclassified as M-21 (M for 'mother', D for 'daughter'). But yes, they're D-21s, and they were horribly ineffective and buggy. Not one successfully completed its mission, they were withdrawn from service after four flights. Sad, given how amazing the A-12/SR-71 was.

I believe they do tours from time to time, though I'm not sure how often. There are times I wish I worked with the USAF instead of the USN, but then I realize that, no, I'd rather work with big floating airports.

Exactly. Even if you did put a 120v heater in, you'd need a voltage converter, and you'd lose a decent amount of energy due to the conversion, in the form of heat. No thanks.

I'd imagine that it goes both ways 'round these parts, but I'm a yankee, so I'll likely never get to the bottom of it!

Yep, and therein lies the issue. When a home heating system, you have up to 200 amps at 120v, so theoretically, you can draw 24,000 watts. You can't do that in a car, and if you tried, you'd get negative infinity gas mileage!

I certainly don't disagree with you, there! I had to replace the heater core on my first car, a 1988 Mercury Topaz, and it was absolutely ridiculous!

We were lucky when we moved here, from NJ, that we knew a few people from the south, and they keyed us in on that little piece! Whereabouts did you live?

CORRECTAMUNDO!

I'm a systems engineer, it's what I do!

Which still adds significant weight and complexity to the system, and it can never truly be disengaged. You can add an electronic clutch, of sorts, but you're still spinning a pulley.

Regardless of the length of time that the heater runs, it would still be a HUGE current/power draw.

You do, but people south of, say, Buffalo, NY, likely don't. Unless they have a diesel.