RE: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,187202,00.html

Holy ****! The military is at risk of limiting or losing operational capacity because it can't maintain control of bandwith? National security trumps civilian cushy lifestyles. Designate whatever bandwith the military needs as solely for use by the military, and let civilians fight over the rest. If military needs increase, and the military needs bandwith claimed by a civilan corporation, apply the principle of eminent domain to a new medium and commandeer it with just compensation. If our cell phones don't work quite as well as they used to, we'll survive. If the aircraft that is supposedly the future of the Air Force can't communicate with AWACS outside the continental U.S., we are going to have much bigger problems on our hands.

Easy fix. Send up the EA-6B Prowler.

So of course, our "super intelligent" planners thought about all this Before they started their design engineering. Right???, Yeah, sure they did. Why is it always "play catch up" with our governmental agencies?

The B-2 is a weapon intended for wartime use, is it not? Why do we assume that our nation's enemies will respect the dictates of the FCC and ITU? What will stop them from jamming any frequency they choose? The fact that at this late date our military is still fielding comms gear so antiquated as to require a dedicated band is as frightening as it is embarrassing. My 802.11b wireless access point doesn't require any other device stay off its band, and I'm certain that it was developed at a significantly lower cost than the B-2. Current WAPs are pretty low-tech, but more robust-in-the-face-of-interference wideband technology is also available if you know enough to ask for it. Perhaps if the FCC, emergency services, the military, and commercial broadcasters had not formed a mutual assistance society dedicated to the preservation of 1960s technology, we wouldn't be in this predicament.

Don't be so quick to assume that the defense contractors and/or the generals who oversee them are blameless here.