70% of the budget went on that i bet.

Agreed Charlie... I'd have tested the tech on a JSF, much easier to impliment and safer as well...

That is why "military intelligence" is an oxymoron

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I disagree with you on two counts:

1.  By using a known quantity (a Harrier) to test a new technology, you can reasonably isolate any problems to that new technology.  In the unfortunate event that you lose the testbed (Harrier) you're out just an old airframe who's cost you've already spent  (presuming the pilot is saved, of course).  By using the JSF to do the initial tests, there's that much more to go wrong.

2.  My son's in military intelligence, and the kid is smart (after all, I'm his dad.... wait that doesn't help the argument!)  All joking aside, I've a deep respect for Military Intelligence, vs a deep concern for "Government by Committee" -- which ultimately is the corenerstone of (most) Western-style coutries, although not always are the best decisions taken.

Unless the pilot is me

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It's stupid to test ANY of the JSF STOVL systems on the Harrier...
But as the harrier is the only STOVL plane in the west they had to use it as the russians did phase out the Forger and the Yak-141.

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Same goes for the Harrier, totally different liftfan system (harrier has 4 moveable pipes, JSF has 1x liftfan and 90 degree exhaust pipe movement range)

Only cool thing with the JSF is that it will melt the runway just like the Yak-141 did... full power on the liftfan and afterburner switched on for the main engine

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I'm really kind of tired of this old joke.  The real times that military intel comes through, which is about 90% of the time, you're never going to hear about.  I just wish people would stop following the crowd and really think about it for a sec.

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Do you?

The overall point is that painting "military intelligence" with a broad brush is dangerous, especially to the ones who do get it right, 99-100% of the time.  Of course you can point out blunders all the time (Dien Bien Phu, Gallipoli, etc).  "Military Intelligence is an oxymoron" makes for a nice ha-ha funny moment, but it is  a disservice to those working -seriously - inb it.

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You should probably ask if I know what the hell I'm talking about first, lol

I'm not trying to be flashy or anything, I'm giving you my source.  My buddie's brother is a Major in the marine corps who works intelligence, also PR with the Iraqi locals when he was overseas.  He tells me the things people say are blown WAAAY out of porportion-one person says "ha, military intel sucks" and then the next person goes "umm, yeah, it does" and then on and on.  I'm inclined to believe him-I've never once in my life just repeated back what somebody said to me without thinkin a little first.

As for the red button, I don't see how it's gonna really affect the way they fly-sounds to me like the pilots would only be using it in situations when they wouldn't be able to fly anyway.