More On The State Of Our Military
Navy Wants More Ships, Aircraft Than Budgeted
Several of my recent posts have dealt with the demand for budget increases for replenishing the equipment and capabilities of our various branches of the military. This article adds fuel to the fire that our military is so stretched and so in need of replenishing its capabilities that we are at risk... and our efforts in Iraq are not only unproductive, but endangering our homeland security and national defense.
Being a veteran of two branches of the military, I am all for making sure our military is adequately funded... but I am also extremely concerned about the amount of waste, fraud, theft and undue influence our military-industrial complex offers. I believe that the defense contractors are an internal danger to our liberties, our fundamental principles of government and our economic capacity... and a corrupting influence upon all of our politicians at the national level.
Several of my recent posts have dealt with the demand for budget increases for replenishing the equipment and capabilities of our various branches of the military. This article adds fuel to the fire that our military is so stretched and so in need of replenishing its capabilities that we are at risk... and our efforts in Iraq are not only unproductive, but endangering our homeland security and national defense.
Being a veteran of two branches of the military, I am all for making sure our military is adequately funded... but I am also extremely concerned about the amount of waste, fraud, theft and undue influence our military-industrial complex offers. I believe that the defense contractors are an internal danger to our liberties, our fundamental principles of government and our economic capacity... and a corrupting influence upon all of our politicians at the national level.
The Navy this week sent a $5.7 billion list of unfunded priorities to Capitol Hill, asking for three additional ships and several aircraft that did not make the cut for the Pentagon's fiscal 2008 budget request.
As has been the case this year with the Army and Marine Corps, the Navy's fiscal 2008 unfunded list is significantly higher than previous years, indicating an up-tick in the services' equipment demands despite near-record defense spending levels.
The Navy's fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2007 budgetary wish lists totaled $3.7 billion and $4.6 billion, respectively.
In a Monday letter to House Armed Services ranking member Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., Chief of Naval Operations Michael Mullen acknowledged that increases in defense spending requests in the last several years have given "some budgetary relief."
But Mullen, who has outlined an ambitious 30-year shipbuilding plan for the Navy, stressed that significant shortfalls remain in the services' equipment coffers.
posted by Jim Downey at 5:51 AM
1 Comments:
Your concerns are real.I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
NEW PENTAGON AMPHIBIOUS VEHICLE HAS TAKEN 10 YEARS AND COST 1.7 $ BILLION
IT BREAKS DOWN EVERY 4.5 HOURS
General Dynamics gets $80M Award fee for delivery. The Military Industrial Complex does it again.
Please see following article in The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601997.html
It is time to view once again the vintage movie, "Pentagon Wars". You can still order it for about $8.00 from many video supply sources on the web. It is a humorous but remarkably true story of the design and development of one of the costliest weapons systems ever to grace the Pentagon Budget, the "Bradley Fighting Vehicle". The movie was produced by HBO and starred Kelsey Grammer as the Pentagon General who led the government establishment sponsoring the vehicle program. The profusion of design and performance specification changes and other difficulties which plagued the program for years were hilariously but accurately portrayed in the film.
The new "Marine Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle" is sure to rival the Bradley if it goes to production. According to the Post Article above, the Marines may choose a wiser course and scrap the prototype, starting over with 7 new prototypes over 2 more years, costing $22M each.
Now that's a bargain!
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