No Foolin’: 7 Things the Pentagon Is Buying With Your $1.5 Trillion
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: $332 Billion
A day before April Fool’s Day, a government watch dog released its most recent assessment of how the Defense Department is spending an eye-popping $1.5 trillion – that’s 11 zeros – on major weapons systems.
While the multi-year, total cost of the programs is staggering — $1.5 trillion is the total GDP of Australia – the report from the Government Accountability Office noted that the major defense project profile for 2013 was down $200 billion from 2010 and is at its lowest point in almost the last decade.
The Pentagon has also gotten better about reducing cost in its acquisition process, the report said, although many projects still suffer from delays and stumble well over budget. Pentagon weapons buyers also still “accept risk” by putting programs into production before they have fully been tested.
In past years, a prime example of both dangers is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive weapons system in history. The plan to buy the fighter plane — what the Air Force said would become the “backbone” of American air dominance — was so poorly conceived it amounted to “acquisition malpractice” as the Pentagon’s top acquisitions official said in 2012.
READ 7 THINGS
While the multi-year, total cost of the programs is staggering — $1.5 trillion is the total GDP of Australia – the report from the Government Accountability Office noted that the major defense project profile for 2013 was down $200 billion from 2010 and is at its lowest point in almost the last decade.
The Pentagon has also gotten better about reducing cost in its acquisition process, the report said, although many projects still suffer from delays and stumble well over budget. Pentagon weapons buyers also still “accept risk” by putting programs into production before they have fully been tested.
In past years, a prime example of both dangers is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive weapons system in history. The plan to buy the fighter plane — what the Air Force said would become the “backbone” of American air dominance — was so poorly conceived it amounted to “acquisition malpractice” as the Pentagon’s top acquisitions official said in 2012.
READ 7 THINGS
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