Testing validates the technology, and then the technology changes again. Manufacturers want every aspect of their products to be “right the first time,' but achieving that goal continues to be one of the great challenges of the age. An enduring difficulty in a high-technology industry such as aerospace is that as progress is made toward the ideal, the whole basis of the problem changes steadily as new materials, new weapon designs, new pressures for commercial aircraft efficiency, new environmental issues, new aerodynamic effects, and a whole raft of other new developments emerge. Technology moves on, chased hard by the dual disciplines of test and validation. They may catch up to technology in some areas, may even get ahead of it, proudly providing an answer before a question is posed, but it is a difficult race to win. Without a doubt, though, the benefits of efficient testing in terms of time and cost savings, quite apart from safety, can be massive.