As I recall it, the publisher, [Harry E.] wanted to do a satirical piece to lampoon the concept of the "Engineering Change Project" which was the method by which you modified ANYTHING the guv'mint buys...from a major component to a simple screw and washer. You file a request for an ECP, then submit drawings, then a modified prototype, then the prototype is field-tested, and often re-modified on the basis of that experience, and finally, after long last, it goes into production.
The process is not without its logic. These things must be done in an orderly fashion, and with oversight. Can't have manufacturers running around slapping new components into things untested and imcompatible with the rest. But, in the event, the process was just about as cumbersome as it sounds in the telling. So much so, that a well-written, and managed, ECP could net a manufacturer millions in cost-overruns.
That was our hook.
First we re-tooled ECP to stand for "Exoskeleton Change Project". The concept was that a tiny flying [if wingless] propulsion unit, with a modest AI capability, could be fitted with an array of electronic equipment, and later, with offensive armament. The hope was, that with the proper mix-and-match of components, the tiny basic Exoskeleton 'bug" could go just about anywhere unnoticed, [five or six could park on the palm of your hand] and creep into place that would render CIA-types dizzy with anticipation.
The format of the strip would be that in one month we'd take a full page in "Electronic Warfare", design a Bug, and do a detailed exploded drawing of all it's parts. With copious engineering call-outs. With tongue firmly in cheek. The next month, the bug would go out into the field for a practical test of its abilities. [A two-page drawing this time] Due to the limited AI which was ALWAYS crowded out by hardware, [CIA-Ops boys loved their toys] the Bug succeeded [more-or-less] in performing its mission, but not for the reasons intended. Since the Department of Defense can not tolerate positive results for negative reasons, the Bug would have to be pulled into the shop and ECP'd up to the next level...and the cycle would start over with another detailed drawing.
Just at the point where Electronic Warfare pulled the strip, we had got things to where we intimated that the Soviet Union was planning to deploy a Bug of its own. This would result, of course, in the archetypical Cold War event: A Bug Gap...which would then lead to a Bug Race.
We hoped the Cold vWar would dissolve in laughter, and a round of drinks bought for all concerned. Alas, it was not to be. The readers out there in the field were those who were writing those Engineering Change Projects, and they didn't get it. Or if they did, it was: "Wot th' hell is this comic drivel doing in this serious publication?" The salesmen for the mag., who had to call on these people to sell advertising space, were embarrassed by it, and bitched loudly to Harry E. In the end, it just withered from neglect. Harry even forgot that it was his idea in the first place.
Nowadays, others have got our beloved Bugs actually flying and doing things that we would have dismissed out-of-hand as too prepostrous even for a fiction strip. Like as not, they've probably arrived at this on their own, but if pressed, Mark and I will swear, [e'en unto death] that these guys were reading "Bugs' back in the 70's.
At least, that's my story...and I'm sticking to it.
1 comment:
As I recall it, the publisher, [Harry E.] wanted to do a satirical piece to lampoon the concept of the "Engineering Change Project" which was the method by which you modified ANYTHING the guv'mint buys...from a major component to a simple screw and washer. You file a request for an ECP, then submit drawings, then a modified prototype, then the prototype is field-tested, and often re-modified on the basis of that experience, and finally, after long last, it goes into production.
The process is not without its logic. These things must be done in an orderly fashion, and with oversight. Can't have manufacturers running around slapping new components into things untested and imcompatible with the rest. But, in the event, the process was just about as cumbersome as it sounds in the telling. So much so, that a well-written, and managed, ECP could net a manufacturer millions in cost-overruns.
That was our hook.
First we re-tooled ECP to stand for "Exoskeleton Change Project". The concept was that a tiny flying [if wingless] propulsion unit, with a modest AI capability, could be fitted with an array of electronic equipment, and later, with offensive armament. The hope was, that with the proper mix-and-match of components, the tiny basic Exoskeleton 'bug" could go just about anywhere unnoticed, [five or six could park on the palm of your hand] and creep into place that would render CIA-types dizzy with anticipation.
The format of the strip would be that in one month we'd take a full page in "Electronic Warfare", design a Bug, and do a detailed exploded drawing of all it's parts. With copious engineering call-outs. With tongue firmly in cheek. The next month, the bug would go out into the field for a practical test of its abilities. [A two-page drawing this time] Due to the limited AI which was ALWAYS crowded out by hardware, [CIA-Ops boys loved their toys] the Bug succeeded [more-or-less] in performing its mission, but not for the reasons intended. Since the Department of Defense can not tolerate positive results for negative reasons, the Bug would have to be pulled into the shop and ECP'd up to the next level...and the cycle would start over with another detailed drawing.
Just at the point where Electronic Warfare pulled the strip, we had got things to where we intimated that the Soviet Union was planning to deploy a Bug of its own. This would result, of course, in the archetypical Cold War event: A Bug Gap...which would then lead to a Bug Race.
We hoped the Cold vWar would dissolve in laughter, and a round of drinks bought for all concerned. Alas, it was not to be. The readers out there in the field were those who were writing those Engineering Change Projects, and they didn't get it. Or if they did, it was: "Wot th' hell is this comic drivel doing in this serious publication?" The salesmen for the mag., who had to call on these people to sell advertising space, were embarrassed by it, and bitched loudly to Harry E. In the end, it just withered from neglect. Harry even forgot that it was his idea in the first place.
Nowadays, others have got our beloved Bugs actually flying and doing things that we would have dismissed out-of-hand as too prepostrous even for a fiction strip. Like as not, they've probably arrived at this on their own, but if pressed, Mark and I will swear, [e'en unto death] that these guys were reading "Bugs' back in the 70's.
At least, that's my story...and I'm sticking to it.
Kelley
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