Related:
"The deal buoyed Wall Street investors. Guggenheim Partners, a financial services firm, concluded that as a result overall Pentagon spending will remain relatively the same for the next several years before it begins to grow once again, at about 2.5 percent per year."
But they can't get you unemployment benefits or food stamps:
"Navy’s new $12b aircraft carrier beset with performance problems; Review raises doubts about launch capacity, other vital systems in new vessel" by Bryan Bender | Globe Staff, January 10, 2014
WASHINGTON — The US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, a multibillion-dollar behemoth that is the first in a next generation of carriers, is beset with a number of performance problems, even failing tests of its ability to launch and recover combat jets, according to an internal assessment by the Pentagon.
This government has been infe$ted with corruption for so long that it is rotted from the core and only now is the rank carcass beginning to stink up the house.
There is nothing new here; this is $OP in AmeriKa in the age of empire and the military-industrial war machine.
The early tests are raising worries that the USS Gerald R. Ford, christened in honor of the 38th president in November, may not meet the Navy’s goal of significantly increasing the number of warplanes it can quickly launch — and could even be less effective than older vessels. The carrier is undergoing testing at a Virginia shipyard and is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in 2016, with a price tag estimated at more than $12 billion.
At least four crucial components, which are still being installed on the ship, are at risk because of their poor or unknown reliability, states the 30-page testing assessment, which was delivered last month to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and other top Pentagon leaders.
In addition to the ship’s launching and landing systems for jet fighters, officials are also concerned about its advanced radar system, which is being produced by Waltham-based Raytheon Company. It also remains unclear if a key weapons elevator will work as promised.
“Poor reliability of these critical systems could cause a cascading series of delays during flight operations that would affect [the ship’s] ability to generate sorties, make the ship more vulnerable to attack, or create limitations during routine operations,” according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe.
Maybe Kerry and Obummer could help out, although after the healthcare dot guv experience….
A number of other systems, such as communications gear, meanwhile, are performing at less than acceptable standards, according to the assessment by J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation. Gilmore concluded that the Navy has little choice but to redesign key components of the ship.
And how much is that outlay going to co$t the American taxpayer?
Rear Admiral Thomas J. Moore, the program executive officer for aircraft carriers, defended the progress of the ship in an interview and expressed confidence that, in the two years before delivery, the Navy and its contractors will overcome what he acknowledged are multiple hurdles….
Don't worry, the profit-boosting cost over-runs will be paid in the intere$ts of "national $ecurity."
--more--"
God help AmeriKa if it ever has to fight a real enemy that has the capability of standing up to it, but I doubt He would. Not the God I believe in.
Sorry for not continuing with the piece, but I'm feeling licked.
Hell, even the helicopters are pieces of $hit now.
And what is our great governor up to today?
"Patrick to travel to Ala. for ship christening
Governor Deval Patrick plans to travel to Mobile, Ala., Friday to attend the christening ceremony of the naval ship, the Fall River. First lady Diane Patrick is acting as the sponsor of the christening of the vessel, which will serve to transport Army and Navy troops. Patrick and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took part in a 2010 ceremony at Fall River’s Battleship Cove to mark the commission and naming of the ship. The Fall River will be the fourth joint high-speed vessel in the Navy."
Yeah, the DCF scandals and woes of this state can wait as he does a Romney imitation at the end of his term. Good riddance. You guys in Alabama can keep him if you want. Thank him for helping out with the greenhouse gas and global warming problem as you shiver, will ya?
