Reform Pentagon Acquisition By Slowing Down the F-35

[unhappycamper]

http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2015/02/reform-pentagon-acquisition-slowing-down-f-35/105264/



John McCain and Ash Carter want real acquisition reform? Great, they can start by slowing – or stopping – the F-35.

Reform Pentagon Acquisition By Slowing Down the F-35
February 12, 2015 By William D. Hartung

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ashton Carter, the incoming next defense secretary, agree on one thing – the need for acquisition reform at the Pentagon. They should start by looking at the F-35 program.

McCain, in his opening remarks at Carter’s confirmation hearing last week, provided a litany of examples of major programs that had incurred huge cost overruns, from a new aircraft carrier to the F-35 combat aircraft. His basic message was that if the Pentagon doesn’t change the way it buys weapons, it won’t matter how much money it gets.

Carter, for his part, decried the Pentagon’s penchant for “cost overruns, lack of accounting and accountability, needless overhead and the like.”

If Carter and McCain want to initiate a new way of doing business at the Pentagon, the F-35 is the perfect beginning. At nearly $1.5 trillion in lifetime costs, the F-35 is the most expensive weapons program ever undertaken by the Pentagon. If the program continues on its current course, taxpayers and the military may end up getting an inferior aircraft for this huge investment.

[TexasProgresive]

1. How about just shut it down

I love that picture-it says it all.

[Arcadiasix]

2. Agreed