Here Is One Pentagon Weapons System That Came In Time And Was Under Budget

USMC FA-18 Hornet. Wikipedia

1 Pentagon Weapons System That Was On Time and Under Budget -- John Reed, Foreign Policy

The Super Hornet

We're always hearing about Pentagon weapons purchases that go so far over budget it becomes hard for normal people to wrap their heads around the staggering numbers involved. Exhibit A: the Lockheed Martin-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), meant to be an "affordable" supersonic stealth fighter that can fly from aircraft carriers or regular airfields and even hover like a helicopter, all while incorporating some of the most advanced spy gear and data-sharing tools ever invented. Needless to say, the program is years behind schedule and has seen its cost balloon to $396 billion, an almost 50-percent increase in cost from when the JSF program was started in 2001 and each jet was estimated to cost only (ha!) $69 million. Today, F-35s are estimated to cost $137 million apiece, according to some estimates. No surprises here: late and over budget is what we've come to expect.

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My Comment: Hallelujah. I am speechless. There is hope for the Pentagon.

A Better Way To Buy Weapon Systems?

The Pentagon scrapped the Future Combat System after spending billions on its development. Photo provided by U.S. Army

An Answer To Weapons-Buying Woes? -- Politico

A competition to develop a new Army armored vehicle could be one answer to some of the Pentagon’s most pernicious weapons-buying problems.

Under President Barack Obama, the administration and Congress have vowed to change the conditions that led to weapons programs running billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. The Future Combat System, the precursor to this new ground vehicle competition that begins Friday, was canceled after the Pentagon spent billions on its development.

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My Comment: Military procurement has never been easy even in the best of times .... but any change is probably better (I hope) than what we presently have.

U.S. House Panel Begins Broader Review Of Procurement System

From The Washington Post:

A House oversight panel has begun a review of Army technology contracts that were awarded under questionable circumstances and involved a government official and a contractor with close personal ties.

The examination by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee is a step toward a broader "investigation of problems with the Federal procurement system," said an Aug. 20 letter signed by Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.).

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My Comment: This examination is long overdue. But with trillion dollar deficits this is forcing an evaluation on all government programs, with the procurement process being on top of the list.

The List: The World's Biggest Military Boondoggles

Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

From Foreign Policy Blog:

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has taken drastic measures recently to cut the Pentagon's bloated weapons projects. But other countries are struggling with their own defense albatrosses, too.

Country: Britain

Budget: $10.6 billion for six ships

Status: Delayed

The plan: Advertised as the "world's most advanced warship" by defense contractor BAE Systems, the T45 is the Royal Navy's next-generation air defense platform. The destroyers will be armed with the newly developed Primary Anti-Air Missile System, whose surface-to-air Aster missiles are said to be capable of destroying a fist-sized target traveling at Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound, from 19 miles away.

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My Comment: I am very skeptical of this list, and a bit disappointed with the analysis .... still ..... there are many procurement projects in the works that should be put on the list and probably will with time.

The way the F-35 project is developing .... there is a very good chance that this may become the biggest boondoggle of them all .... and it is not even commented on by the Foreign Policy writer.