SMRs and AMRs

Friday, July 17, 2009

Dogfight over Raptor typifies defense excess

Pentagon doesn’t want more F-22s. So why is Congress funding them?

USA Today

Let's see if we have this right: The nation is struggling with an unprecedented $1.7 trillion budget deficit and fighting two wars against low-tech guerillas who have no aircraft. But Congress wants to keep building more and more copies of a hyper-expensive fighter jet that was designed for Cold War aerial battles against a country — the Soviet Union — that no longer exists.

EDIT17 Crazy? Yes, but this sort of thing has long been business as usual on Capitol Hill. For decades, members of Congress have insisted on saddling the Pentagon with weapons it doesn't want, or building more than military officials say they need. Just one example: The Crusader self-propelled howitzer, a hulking gun designed for battles with the Soviet Union, was kept alive by Congress for years after the Soviet Union collapsed. The Pentagon finally succeeded in killing the Crusader in 2002.

This sort of waste is shortsighted in peacetime. But it's outrageous in times of war such as now. Dollars spent on unnecessary jets divert resources from low-tech, less glamorous items — body armor, mine-resistant vehicles and unmanned aerial drones — that can save troops' lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(More here.)

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