"$32 billion for equipment that was never built"
Related: Following Zakheim and Pentagon trillions to Israel and 9-11
“Seems to work out where everyone gets their piece of the pie sooner or later’’
"Costly cancellations show shift in Pentagon’s project protocol" by Marjorie Censer, Washington Post / May 31, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Army’s Comanche helicopter was envisioned as “the quarterback of the digital battlefield,’’ a technologically superior aircraft that could hide from enemies, operate at night and in bad weather, and travel farther than any other helicopter. General Richard Cody, a former vice chief of staff of the Army, called it the “most flexible, most agile’’ aircraft the country had ever produced.
In 2000, it ranked as the most important planned buy for the Army. Four years later, the program, which had consumed close to 20 years of work and nearly $6 billion, was abruptly dropped.
It is one of 22 major Army weapons programs that have been canceled since 1995, ringing up a price tag of more than $32 billion for equipment that was never built....
A new study commissioned by the Army is the latest indication that the Pentagon — and the defense industry, in turn — is undergoing a seismic shift in its approach to new programs. As pressures mounted in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military retreated from its ambitions of building multibillion-dollar, technologically superior systems. Instead, it was forced to make better use of tried-and-true equipment.
For almost a decade, the Defense Department saw its budgets surge — but did not make the kind of technological strides that seemed possible.
Gone are the days of “no-questions-asked funding requests,’’ Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. The Pentagon must make do with less. It is focusing on fixing older equipment and taking a more measured approach to weapon development.
I'll believe it when I see it. They get an INCREASE EVERY YEAR!
The shifting strategies and a shrinking defense budget have triggered the biggest restructuring in the defense industry since the end of the Cold War. Although the defense industry has always had an unusual business model in which it is hard to predict needs, officials say an uncertain trade has become all the more so.
I don't know, war seems like a going concern here in AmeriKa. Been at it my whole lifetime.
Indeed, in recent years, the Pentagon has killed off some of its most heralded — and most pricey — weapons programs, and many of those that remain are not certain to move forward. In some ways, this represents a market correction — and a realization that the Defense Department has to live within its means and buy weapons it can afford....
What a PoS propaganda piece.
--more--"
"GE’s ‘green’ engine offers new chance with military" May 16, 2011|By Theo Emery, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON — For months, General Electric has fought an uphill battle to keep funds flowing for development of a next-generation F-35 fighter engine, a program the White House, Pentagon, and many in Congress oppose as wasteful — but one which would support hundreds of jobs at GE Aviation’s plants in Lynn and elsewhere.
See: GE to Self-Fund F-35 Fighter Engine
Told you Congress would come through.
Attracting less attention has been GE’s work on new “green’’ engine technology for the Air Force that, analysts and specialists say, could greatly improve the company’s ability to compete for engine contracts. The technology is intended to make aircraft engines far more fuel-efficient, saving money for the Pentagon while potentially reestablishing GE’s long-term role in jet engine contracting, and the jobs that come with it.
Related: A Green Army
The World's Biggest Polluter
I notice they never come up in the global warming debates.
The Pentagon has agreed to pay GE Aviation about $255 million for the demonstration program through 2013, officials said last week.
Let's hope they at least build something.
GE’s effort reveals an axiom of the defense industry: contractors may get bumped from one competition, but with so few companies able to do the work, there are always openings to get back into the game.
Oh, the WASTE of YOUR TAX DOLLARS is ALL a GAME, Americans!!
“Seems to work out where everyone gets their piece of the pie sooner or later,’’ said William C. Storey Jr., president of the Virginia-based Teal Group, a market research and analysis company....
How come they didn't leave a piece for you, taxpayers?
The Air Force consumes about 80 percent of the military’s fuel, Air Force Chief Scientist Mark T. Maybury said, costing between $6 billion and $8 billion a year.
Related: The $9 Billion Dollar Fuel Bill
That must be one big gas pump.
--more--"
"GE jet engine survives House; Obama may veto defense legislation; jobs at stake at Lynn facility" by Theo Emery, Globe Staff / May 27, 2011
WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives risked a potential veto by President Obama yesterday when it approved a $690 billion defense bill that throws a lifeline to a disputed jet fighter engine with parts that would be built at a General Electric plant in Lynn....
Yeah, pity the poor Pentagon.
The engine program — with hundreds of Bay State jobs at stake — has long been backed by the Massachusetts congressional delegation.
The liberal, antiwar Massachusetts delegation?
“It shows you that this is what it takes to kill a program at the Pentagon,’’ said Laura Peterson, a senior policy analyst for the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. “It’s kind of ridiculous that there is such an intense battle being waged over something that the Department of Defense says it doesn’t want.’’
**********
US Representative John F. Tierney, a Democrat whose district includes Lynn, called GE’s new arrangement of self-financing “a creative approach to funding weapons systems.’’
And he is supposed to be a dove.
****************
Despite GE’s pledge to pay for continued development, Obama still opposes the measure because it leaves the door open for future taxpayer-supported development and acquisition under certain conditions in the future....
So the SELF-FUNDING thing was just a SCAM until Congress shoveled it more tax loot, huh?
--more--"
And you can't even take them to court:
"Calif. prisoner reduction upheld; High court says conditions violate inmates’ rights" May 24, 2011|By Adam Liptak, New York Times
WASHINGTON —In action yesterday, the court refused to take sides in a long-running, billion-dollar dispute between two defense contractors and the government over a canceled contract for a Navy plane.
Did they build anything?
The high court unanimously threw out court decisions that would have helped the federal government, as well as the Boeing Co. and General Dynamics, the companies that were supposed to build 850 A-12 Avenger attack planes for the military.
The A-12 Avenger attack plane was canceled by the Pentagon in 1991 based on claims that the companies failed to meet the terms of the contract. The A-12 was more than 18 months behind schedule and at least $1 billion over budget when it was canceled.
The justices also turned down an appeal from Guantanamo detainees who fear they may be tortured or jailed if they are released from the US naval base in Cuba.
Where they have been jailed and tortured.
They rejected a plea from dozens of detainees who say they should have 30 days’ advance notice to challenge their transfer to countries where they have a reasonable fear of torture, or even continued confinement.
Sounds like they are innocent.
--more--"
