Weapons that aren't ready dot Bush's war budget

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's proposed war budget includes many high-cost weapons that won't be operational for years, using a funding request aimed at supporting the troops to seek money for some of the Pentagon's favorite projects.

The president's war package seeks $400 million this year alone to fund a pair of F-35 fighters, even though the new model of plane won't be ready for combat until at least 2010. It also contains $74 million to begin designing a spy plane that won't be tested for two years.

In the war budget, the Pentagon listed the planes among the costs of "reconstituting the force" -- that is, replacing equipment lost in battle. The administration requested more than $51 billion in such replacement spending for the rest of this year and next. In 2005, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the price tag for replacing equipment lost in Iraq would be no more than $8 billion each year.

The war has escalated since the CBO estimate, but analysts say Bush's request strikes them as disproportionately high.

"There are a number of reasons to be suspicious" that programs requested as war spending may not go to the war, said Steve Kosiak , a defense budget specialist at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. "Reconstitution costs have really jumped. That's a big question mark."

more: http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2007/02/08/weapons_that_arent_ready_dot_bushs_war_budget/

[Hissyspit]

1. Jeez, it's a f**king war porn Christmas list for a sociopathic child. n/t

[ClintonTyree]

2. How many new ways do we need...

to kill people? :wtf: Even with all of our "smart weapons" and fantastic futuristic armaments we're getting our asses handed to us in Iraq. People with rocks, Viet Nam era rifles and IEDs are creating a living hell for our soldiers in Iraq. Is all this technology necessary?
The damned Pentagon wastes so much money of these new "future weapons" that have no real useful military application. It's another case of more toys for the boys who never grew up.
If we spent 10% of the Pentagon budget on waging peace instead of war the return on that investment would probably astound us.
Someone has to rein in these idiots. They have to be taught that the American taxpayer isn't a bottomless well of money for their future war toys.

[RC]

3. How many ways indeed. What is it with these sickos and their obsession

with death and destruction being the answer for any group or country not agreeing with them?

[BushOut06]

4. I would immediately cut off funding for most weapon R&D

We already have the world's most technologically advanced military. Why do we need to continually pump BILLIONS of dollars into new ways to kill people, and trying to see how many science-fiction ideas we can come up with? Why are we working on new torture methods (ie the "pain-ray")? If we're not planning on using our military against other countries, then shouldn't maintaining what we currently have be sufficient?

Any advancements in our military technology should be modest, for self-defense purposes ONLY.