This congress will sacrifce the safety of the US and its military in order to pass social reforms. Let's hope we have a society to reform after an enemy attack...
The damn liberals always cut the military. Clinton cut the Army badly in the 90's and we needed the hell out of those divisions in 2003 - STILL DO! But the illegal aliens and the half of the population that pay no taxes will be given everything they want.
Originally posted by edree: The damn liberals always cut the military. Clinton cut the Army badly in the 90's and we needed the hell out of those divisions in 2003 - STILL DO! But the illegal aliens and the half of the population that pay no taxes will be given everything they want.
You need to read a history book. The post-Cold War draw down of forces began almost the second the first Gulf War ended, under Bush 41. Remember the "Peace Dividend"?
After 9/11 Bush 43 had carte blanche to expand the end strength, but did virtually nothing. Finally, Congress had to push through a bill increase the Army's end strength by 30,000 (roughly 2 divisions)in 2005.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Motive25,
The Future is in UAV types from recon to interceptors.
miniaturization of technology is the biggest obstacle to overcome in making smaller vehicles as well as many innovative optics and radars along with the COM to fly them 7000 miles away. This innovation comes with a price as many of the different UAVs are purpose built and not even in serial production. However, I think the price has gone to ridiculous extremes as the different cogs in the gearbox all want a big piece of cash with the attitude of "well they NEED me so I'll stick it to em" attitude that comes from working in the government gravy train system.
There needs to be a better balance between security risks and competition for defense contracts. With the US far and away the leader in UAV technology, the risk for tech leaks is high so true competition is limited.
I would say that if the technical specifications and goals are clearly expressed(and not changed every 5 minutes)as to what the particular component must do or how it is to function without creating a true security risk then the R&D and costs would both vastly improve. Right now, a handful of companies(comparatively speaking)are the only ones even allowed to bid.
This is part of the anticipated transfer of tax dollars from Constitutional spending to social spending. It happened under Carter and it happened under Clinton. Clinton spent much less than Carter in terms of a % of GDP. Obama plans to spend less than any president since before WWII.
You can't buy votes from the unions, fund class warfare initiatives, ACORN,and provide health care to illegal aliens without cutting defense.
This is a classic case of technology advancing faster than it can be tested and proven. When Block 20 & 30 aircraft await IOT&E verification for what ever reason, and the Block 40 aircraft are ready to fly you run into critical backlogs that are costly. Tied to this are the field commanders who are screaming for the next generation aircraft to be able to aggressively take the fight to the bad guys, something must give. Now throw in the ever present politics that accompany each and every weapon system development and you find the program starting to trip over them selves and accidents can and will occur. Not only in the testing community but also in the field as these aircraft are being pressed into service that are called “field trials” where when something goes wrong, (the wrong house is targeted and destroyed) innocents are lost. Sadly WAR is not a precise endeavor and losses occur that you hope and try to prevent. Rushing sophisticated aircraft through development and testing is NOT the answer. “They are liken to a fine bottle of wine…it is not ready until it is time”.
Rushing sophisticated aircraft through development and testing is NOT the answer.
There needs to be a way to fund and expand advanced testing without bureaucracy and politics being involved which complicate the process. If all the infighting would stop and efforts placed instead of doing what it takes to certify and deploy these birds that meet the mission requirements at a rate that will get them where they are needed most.
