Reuters has a number of Reports on Weapons Budget Overruns online today. Two are scheduled for Cancellation in June, unless the Sec. of Defense can prove there are no acceptable alternatives. The Global Hawk has several alternatives and really little effective use. The Weather satellite system has the sole aim of perdicting weather for 7 Days rather than 3 Days; what is untold is the unreliability in Forecast results to this point--We are talking 50-50 Coin toss here. The multiple launch rocket system is in excess of 15% over Budget, and Congress had to be notified under the McCann law; actually, the Stalin's Organ version of WWII is still the cheapest, most reliable, most accurate, and still the deadliest ever designed.
Over half of all the 89 Weapons systems being worked on are over Budget. One, the C-17, which is a huge Cargo plane, has been planned since the 1970s, and funded since 1984; rumor states it still is not near completion. The F-35 is the Costliest contract which the Defense Dept. has, and is a partnership agreement with 7 other Nations. It is planned to replace the aged A-10s and several other aircraft including the Harrier. The trouble is it will effectively replace all of Our current airfleet in terms of Target acquistion and Shoot-down capability; yet We plan to share this technology with other Nations, some of whom are a seeve for transfer of aircraft technology. The functional entire World will have the F-35 Specs for a fraction of the Development Cost to the United States, and almost immediately.
We need a Defense Contract award system which is not based upon how much Lobbyist money is advanced to finance political campaigns. There is little expectation that any Contract currently in operation will be canceled, but We could at least hope for better Security procedures. lgl
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