The Wastes Of Waging War

Waging war and or preparing to wage war can be very expensive propositions for American taxpayers. It becomes even more expensive when you factor in all the overruns that usually end up skyrocketing the cost of any new weapons system that the Pentagon may want to produce. It can become a complete debacle when the new weapon purchased ends up encountering all sorts of technical problems in the field that require more money to be spent in an attempt to repair initial design flaws in any system. According to the U.S. Government's Accountability Office cost overruns for weapon systems is not ony a way of life at the Pentagon but it is now reaching comical levels. Here below are some examples:

V-22 Osprey - This is a vertical takeoff aircraft designed and built for the Marines. It's special feature is that it has propellers on the ends of it's wings that can rotate and therby allow the plane to takeoff and land like a helecopter. Over the last 20 years the cost of building it has risen 44% from an original cost estimate of 38 billion dollars to nearly 55 billion today. In that time it has had a number of problems that have caused redesignes and alterations of some of its internal systems. One of its biggest problems is that when it takes off the huge amount of sand and dirt that it kicks up from its massive propellers sometimes jam up the engines and the plane stalls.

Virginia-Class Submarine - This is an attack sub which has the ability to operate in coastal waters as well as diving deep into the oceans and remaining out to sea for large periods of time. In the past 10 years the cost of the program has risen from about 57.5 billion to over 81 billion.

E.F.V. - The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle Is a tank like weapon that is designed and built for the Marines. It's primary purpose is to serve as a troop carrier but it also has a canon mounted on board and is capable of offensive engagements. Over the last 7 years it has had a cost overrun of 55%. Original cost was 8.7 billion. The overruns now total over 13.5 billion.

MQ-9 Reaper - This is a plane designed for the Air Force which will not have a pilot. The Air Force is designing planes that do not carry pilots on board who fly them but instead the pilot will be located in a command center and will fly the plane remotely using a joystick type device to control and fly the plane without ever having to be in harms way. After only 3 years the cost overruns have exceeded 200%. The original cost of this program was about 690 million dollars. The latest estimates put the figure at about 2.2 billion.