January 17, 1961

:thup:



$682 billion is the figure from the link in the o/p. I think it's a 2013 estimate if I recollect.

The undisputed point is that it's a shit-load.

I disagree on the re-build too. I think we can find more productive things to invest in than ways to kill Monkeys and blow shit up.
"Space... The Final Frontier."​
Like I said earlier in the thread, nothing wrong with a strong military - I'd like to see them more in the role of the world's firefighters as opposed to the world's police force, but that's the subject of another thread... like I said... nothing wrong with military investment per se, but replacing the arsenal that Bush and Obama have blown through for the sake of replacing it is short sighted.
 
:thup:



$682 billion is the figure from the link in the o/p. I think it's a 2013 estimate if I recollect.

The undisputed point is that it's a shit-load.

I disagree on the re-build too. I think we can find more productive things to invest in than ways to kill Monkeys and blow shit up.
"Space... The Final Frontier."​
Like I said earlier in the thread, nothing wrong with a strong military - I'd like to see them more in the role of the world's firefighters as opposed to the world's police force, but that's the subject of another thread... like I said... nothing wrong with military investment per se, but replacing the arsenal that Bush and Obama have blown through for the sake of replacing it is short sighted.

well, replacing what we have used or worn out is one thing, and to an extent I agree, but replacing and *upgrading* what is at end of life,thats another.....its gotta be done.

frankly, I think enough evidence is out there and in practice that, the final frontier may be in the private sectors hands now.
 
If Monkeys ever do get to reach for the stars, a LOT of commonly used infrastructure will need to be built. 'Government' of some sort will play a major role.

If I was a betting Monkey, I'd put money on that government reflecting the US Constitution more than it will the British Monarchy.


There comes a point in evolution when 'personal profit' fails to provide progress at an acceptable pace and something else takes over. It's happened before, it's happening now.

Baby steps. *sigh*
:smoke:
 
:thup:



$682 billion is the figure from the link in the o/p. I think it's a 2013 estimate if I recollect.

The undisputed point is that it's a shit-load.

I disagree on the re-build too. I think we can find more productive things to invest in than ways to kill Monkeys and blow shit up.
"Space... The Final Frontier."​
Like I said earlier in the thread, nothing wrong with a strong military - I'd like to see them more in the role of the world's firefighters as opposed to the world's police force, but that's the subject of another thread... like I said... nothing wrong with military investment per se, but replacing the arsenal that Bush and Obama have blown through for the sake of replacing it is short sighted.

I think we could operate on far less. Let me just give some of those personal specifics that I said I would get to.

At the start of my career I worked on the B2 bomber. An interesting aircraft to be sure and it gave me my first insight into the insanity that is the air force procurement system. There is a part on that aircraft in the ventilation system that is entirely irrelevant. It was a part that was meant to regulate the pressure difference in the fuel tanks and the outside atmosphere for a pressurized fuel system. That entire system was removed but the part was left on to provide lightning protection. Here’s the rub though – when that part breaks (as all parts do and this one fairly frequently) it costs 200,000 dollars to replace. That’s a bit of cash for a part that does nothing. The real problem is that all other aircraft (and the B2 used them on the other side of the system) use a 10 dollar screen to do the same thing. That screen never breaks because it does not have any moving parts like the complex valve did. 200K and about 16 hours of down time. On average, military aircraft cost around 10K an hour for every hour they sit on the ground not flying. This is because there are calendar day inspections cycles that are extremely expensive. That means the entire job cost the use of a 20 million dollar hangar for half a day, a crew of 3 to change, 200K for the part itself and over 160K for the aircraft downtime all for a part that was entirely irrelevant. When we drew up a plan to replace this part with the flam arrester (the 10 dollar screen) and sent it to the air force they, in turn, asked Northrop (the people that sold us the 200K part) for permission to make the change. What do you think they said?

If this was a sole example then it would not be so earth shattering but it is not. This is actually extremely prevalent. Then we have my current shop where we maintain a fall restraint system that cost us 100K to build – WAY more than 6 steel wires hung from the celling should cost. Then we pay a contractor to come out and load test them and x-ray them for micro fissures 10K PER YEAR PER HANGAR. That amounts to hundreds of thousands a year for a single base. The sad part, we have an NDI (non-destructive inspection) shop that has all the tools, manning and free time to accomplish this inspection for FREE (we already pay for the personnel and equipment for aircraft maintenance). Even worse, Boeing decided to pitch a new fall restraint system to us so we were FORCED to purchase another system requiring another expensive test for another 80K initial cost (not including the annual inspections they are going to do on it). 3 years – haven’t used it yet. Again, this is not unusual but VERY common.

These insane contract come from a simple problem as well. Most of the peopleinvolved in the contracts end up with 6 figure jobs after retireing from the air force. Interesting that immediately these people broker multi million dollar contreacts and then land a 6 figure salary the very next year after retiring. No wonder the AF gets the shitty end of the stick here.

Then, of course, we have WAY to damn many people in many of the career fields. It does not seem like it because we fill our days up trying to comply with mountains of extra crap. Last year, we tallied the total manning utilization for one of the locations I was at in reference to actual jobs accomplished. The result: 13% That means that for every 100 hours that the AF paid for a person to be at work, he spent all of 13 actually working. That’s it. Interestingly enough, those same people were complaining that they were undermanned.

I can guarantee you that I could manage our current shop of 15 personnel and another 15 guard with at MOST 4. That’s right; we could easily complete our workload with less than 20 percent of our manning. The same could be said of a dozen other shops that I have worked at. There are many that would not work for but those shops are not a case of mission but rather the inane amount of training flights (let alone asinine practices such a touch and go’s that create FAR more broken planes than they are worth) we take on is simply insane.

Everywhere I look I see MILLIONS wasted and BILLIONS in savings that could be easily reached with some small tweaks in the procurement process, taking actual ownership of our A/C and revamping the asinine rules that we don’t really need to be following.
 

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