The Disgrace & Disaster of the Pentagon Procurement System
Worse still, it's become the norm on everything from the Space Station to the Comanche helicopter.
by Rod D. Martin
June 16, 2013
The Los Angeles Times publishes a feature story today entitled "F-22 Program Produces Few Planes, Soaring Costs". But the story is about far more than the F-22.
The fact is, as the story makes all too clear, the system is completely and utterly broken. And this is not news. They cycle of Congress budgeting a low-ball amount based on transparently ludicrous numbers from defense contractors, those contractors then hitting all-too-predictable snags, Congress responding by cutting the program's budget (rather than being realistic and funding the predictable overruns) and spreading out the number of years for the program (which inevitably skyrockets the cost even further), and finally just canceling the whole thing: this has become the norm on everything from the Space Station to Missile Defense to the Comanche helicopter. And now the F-35 and the F-22.
Bottom line to you? Vastly more money spent to get vastly less than promised. And in this latest case, t…