[Milsurplus] ARC 5 and others

[David Stinson]

aGEnuine ham wrote:
> There is often a
> little item called politics which gets in between 
> the concept of an idea and its commitment to hardware....

Indeed. As in every war since 1776,
many projects are spread around, added
or enlarged because a congressman wants 
a bit more of the pork for his district.
WWII generated some massive pork.
I can just see them in the smoke-filled rooms,
arguing over how to divvy-up the radio contracts.
I speculate that the RAV was passed over as
a liaison receiver so GE could have the RAX.
We *could* say the planners wanted A.R.C. 
to focus their limited capacity on Command Sets. 
We could, but dissing politicians is more fun.
Look at all the different contracts for BC-348s.  
Three big contractors could easily have filled the orders, 
but that particular pork pie got sliced into a great many pieces.
What the hey... It's the American way! ;-)

73 Dave S.