The Sacred Cow: Pentagon's Budget

It is the perennial magnum opus of Washington: politicians bemoan social spending and escalating federal deficits, score easy political points with talk of budget cutting, and when the limelight is focused elsewhere vote for more defense spending. That is why the White House's objections to more C-17 cargo aircraft [photo courtesy Boeing Inc.] is an exhilarating aria midst Congress' somnambulant debate of the record size defense budget. More C-17s and its alternate engine program will cost $7 billion.  The Pentagon does not even want the additional 10 jet cargo aircraft.  Repugnants do not want to spend one more dime on national health care, but eagerly justify unwanted weapon programs costing billions. Senator McCain (R-AZ) said the 2010 budget contains $4 billion worth of earmarks not requested by Pentagon officials.


The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is another project drawing attention from both sides. It is the single most expensive weapon program at the Pentagon, and is over budget and behind schedule ($298.8bn versus a projected cost of about $200bn). Secretary of Defense Gates took the unusual step of replacing the program's manager. He also withheld $614 million of performance incentives due to delays and cost overruns. Typically advanced aircraft like the F-35 rely  exclusively on computerized controls--so called fly by wire technology--which require a tremendous amount of complex computer software and hardware to operate. The Lightening II is especially complicated because it is intended to be produced in several versions including a STOL variant for use by the Marines. Regardless of the development problems the Pentagon told Lockheed Martin to start building production models of the fighter with only 2% of the test programs complete. The STOL variant performed its first flight Tuesday [photo courtesy Lockheed-Martin]. It was only the fifth F-35 to begin operation. After the first prototype was completed, the jet was completely redesigned which added to development delays. The Pentagon plans to purchase 2,456 units and sell hundreds more to allies. Gates has recommended the cancellation of an alternate engine for the aircraft, drawing criticism from Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) chairman of the Armed Services Committee among others. Senator McCain said he was encouraged by the administration's recent efforts to reign in wasteful military spending, but added weapon programs are politically difficult to cut. An example of how difficult is Senator Saxbe Chambliss (R-GA) efforts to revive his pet project, the F-22 Raptor. Production of this yet more expensive fighter aircraft ($350m versus $122m each) was terminated last year. Health care reform in comparison could generate as much as $683bn in savings over 2010-19 based on independent projections. But your federal government's priorities are clear: you can go die in an emergency room waiting to be treated while squadrons of gold plated F-35s fly overhead protecting your right do so.