Next Big Future: US Navy cost increases are worse than the US healthcare system
In 2006, the RAND corporation found that from 1965-2005 the US Navy had 7-11% annual inflation for its ships which is worse than the inflation for US college tuition and US healthcare. This was before the Zumwalt destroyers (aka DDX) came in at $7.5 billion each compared to the previous destroyer at $1-2 billion each. Only 3 Zumwalts will be built and they have loads of technical and operational problems. Those were the high function and high cost end of the high-low mix of ships planned in 2006.
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WNU Editor: What caught my eye was this ....
.... Chinese ships are about 5 times lower cost than comparable US ships
And this ....
.... Other European countries can build ships at 2-5 times lower cost than the US is able. Those European ships have modern electronics, systems and weapons.
2 comments:
I think there is a cult in the military that infects too many. The latest whiz bang gadgetry is needed to prevail.
Let the defense companies design things first then we'll see if they are worth buying. There have certainly been a growing number of unacceptable turkeys in the last decade or so. Compare them to the B-52. Now there is a weapon that should be held up and shaken vigorously in the faces of some brass and their buds in the defense industry.
How about buying some foreign weapons?
I'm also waiting to see the results of the F-35 vs. A-10 fly-off. As far as I'm concerned a sweeping overhaul of a procurement system that brings so many three legged, unable to effectively hunt dogs into existence, is greatly overdue. It's insulting, the deception, flaws, expense, and waste that is accepted to gain a sometimes immeasurably small advantage to our troops. The maintenance involved for this stuff is not acceptable either. No wonder 8 or more bodies are supplied for each trigger puller. And that figure is back when I was in the service. And that's a long time ago.
End of rant.
Hopefully Trump fixes this well known problem in the US military.
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