The Pentagon’s $10-billion bet gone bad

[John Marston]

Over the last decade, the agency has sunk nearly $10 billion into SBX and three other programs that had to be killed or sidelined after they proved unworkable.
Trying to fashion a shield against a sneak missile attack, military planners gambled on costly projects that flopped, leaving a hole in U.S. homeland defense.
Leaders of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency were effusive about the new technology.
It was the most powerful radar of its kind in the world, they told Congress. So powerful it could detect a baseball over San Francisco from the other side of the country.
In reality, the giant floating radar has been a $2.2-billion flop, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.

In addition to SBX, the programs were:
- The Airborne Laser, envisioned as a fleet of converted Boeing 747s that would fire laser beams to destroy enemy missiles soon after launch, before they could release decoys.
The cost: $5.3 billion.
- The Kinetic Energy Interceptor, a rocket designed to be fired from land or sea to destroy enemy missiles during their early stage of flight.
The cost: $1.7 billion.
- The Multiple Kill Vehicle, a cluster of miniature interceptors that would destroy enemy missiles along with any decoys.
The cost: nearly $700 million.
Source

Expensive missteps really have become a trademark of the Missile Defense Agency. Like as the majority of lastest Pentagon`s research activities.
Whatever the military wants the military gets. None of these projects have been shown to do anything to improve the lives of fellow Americans

 

[cnm]

What on earth is your point? $10 billion is not even 2% of 1 year's nominal offence budget, over ten years it is invisible.

 

[Ernie S.]

Edsel [/thread]

 

[Godboy]

They've developed some great shit over the years. They cant all be home runs.

 

[Sonny Clark]

Over the last decade, the agency has sunk nearly $10 billion into SBX and three other programs that had to be killed or sidelined after they proved unworkable.
Trying to fashion a shield against a sneak missile attack, military planners gambled on costly projects that flopped, leaving a hole in U.S. homeland defense.
Leaders of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency were effusive about the new technology.
It was the most powerful radar of its kind in the world, they told Congress. So powerful it could detect a baseball over San Francisco from the other side of the country.
In reality, the giant floating radar has been a $2.2-billion flop, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.

In addition to SBX, the programs were:
- The Airborne Laser, envisioned as a fleet of converted Boeing 747s that would fire laser beams to destroy enemy missiles soon after launch, before they could release decoys.
The cost: $5.3 billion.
- The Kinetic Energy Interceptor, a rocket designed to be fired from land or sea to destroy enemy missiles during their early stage of flight.
The cost: $1.7 billion.
- The Multiple Kill Vehicle, a cluster of miniature interceptors that would destroy enemy missiles along with any decoys.
The cost: nearly $700 million.
Source

Expensive missteps really have become a trademark of the Missile Defense Agency. Like as the majority of lastest Pentagon`s research activities.
Whatever the military wants the military gets. None of these projects have been shown to do anything to improve the lives of fellow Americans

And that's just a small part of the waste and abuse of taxpayers' hard earned dollars. The waste extends far beyond the defense department. EXAMPLES: Subsidies, building mosques on foreign soil, "The Fence", supplying weapons to drug lords and terrorists, foreign aid, Medicare and Medicaid fraud and corruption, pork spending, luxury living in our prisons, unnecessary government travel, the ridiculous perks and benefits given to members of Congress, lavish vacation and White House parties, no-bid government contracts, exploring the far reaches of the universe, and bailouts, just to name a few.

Defense spending waste: Too many military bases on foreign soil, planes and ships the military doesn't need nor want, senseless deadly costly wars, supplying military vehicles and weapons to U.S. police departments, and money given to such military contractors as Halliburton.

And, all of the above doesn't include the national debt and the interest on that debt. Yet, with all the wasted tax dollars, the government still talks about raising taxes so they can waste even more money. If they cut the waste, there would be no need to ever raise taxes. We have rundown infrastructure because the government claims there's no money for much needed repairs and upgrades. We have homeless VETS, and VETS not getting timely and proper health care, and other issues shuffled to the bottom of the spending priority list. The bottom lines is, "government is waste".

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

. None of these projects have been shown to do anything to improve the lives of fellow Americans

of course thats 100% idiotic and liberal. If past defense projects had not been successful ISIS would be here right now slowly cutting our heads off while we are alive.

Do you understand?

 

[rightwinger]

It is the nature of R&D

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

It is the nature of R&D

yes all you could do is make it as competitive as possible

 

[Jomama]

Very often it's congress not the Pentagon. The Pentagon didn't want the MRAP but Congress was freaked out trying to react to citizen anger over IED deaths.

What everyone under-estimates (which I did for years) is the value of a defense industrial base. The last thing we need is another aircraft carrier (we have 20, China 1 and Russia 1) but we need our shipyards to remain operational. So we always have something going at Newport News, just to keep it active. Same thing is happening at our two major Tank factories now, just enough work to keep the lights on.

 

[rightwinger]

It is the nature of R&D

yes all you could do is make it as competitive as possible

$10 billion over a decade is $1 billion a year in failed R&D

Those projects are exceptionally futuristic and high risk. This is what we called Star Wars technology under Reagan. R&D like that is rarely 100% successful or 100% failure. Not being 100% successful does not mean the project was a 100% failure

You may not end up with a deployable defense system but you still learn things and develop new technologies that may be used in the next weapons system or in the civilian world

 

[Moonglow]

What on earth is your point? $10 billion is not even 2% of 1 year's nominal offence budget, over ten years it is invisible.

Yeah, what's a mere 10 billion...hell let's do it again.....

 

[Jomama]

How does the OP feel about DARPA spending - 99% waste of money? Or prudent investment in future technologies?

 

[Roadrunner]

What on earth is your point? $10 billion is not even 2% of 1 year's nominal offence budget, over ten years it is invisible.

Yeah, what's a mere 10 billion...hell let's do it again.....

Americans spend $2.3 billion annually on tattoos, and $66 million annually on tattoo removal.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Drop in the bucket compared to f35 and LCS....they don't work either.but full steam ahead

 

[kaz]

Over the last decade, the agency has sunk nearly $10 billion into SBX and three other programs that had to be killed or sidelined after they proved unworkable.
Trying to fashion a shield against a sneak missile attack, military planners gambled on costly projects that flopped, leaving a hole in U.S. homeland defense.
Leaders of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency were effusive about the new technology.
It was the most powerful radar of its kind in the world, they told Congress. So powerful it could detect a baseball over San Francisco from the other side of the country.
In reality, the giant floating radar has been a $2.2-billion flop, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.

In addition to SBX, the programs were:
- The Airborne Laser, envisioned as a fleet of converted Boeing 747s that would fire laser beams to destroy enemy missiles soon after launch, before they could release decoys.
The cost: $5.3 billion.
- The Kinetic Energy Interceptor, a rocket designed to be fired from land or sea to destroy enemy missiles during their early stage of flight.
The cost: $1.7 billion.
- The Multiple Kill Vehicle, a cluster of miniature interceptors that would destroy enemy missiles along with any decoys.
The cost: nearly $700 million.
Source

Expensive missteps really have become a trademark of the Missile Defense Agency. Like as the majority of lastest Pentagon`s research activities.
Whatever the military wants the military gets. None of these projects have been shown to do anything to improve the lives of fellow Americans

First you realize the whole concept of R&D is to research. All programs can't be a success or we aren't pushing the envelope You don't lead by playing it totally safe all the time.

Second, wow, if in the national budget you're that upset about $10 billion, you must be ready to burn down the white house and string Obama from the nearest tree for Obamacare.

 

[rightwinger]

Over the last decade, the agency has sunk nearly $10 billion into SBX and three other programs that had to be killed or sidelined after they proved unworkable.
Trying to fashion a shield against a sneak missile attack, military planners gambled on costly projects that flopped, leaving a hole in U.S. homeland defense.
Leaders of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency were effusive about the new technology.
It was the most powerful radar of its kind in the world, they told Congress. So powerful it could detect a baseball over San Francisco from the other side of the country.
In reality, the giant floating radar has been a $2.2-billion flop, a Los Angeles Times investigation found.

In addition to SBX, the programs were:
- The Airborne Laser, envisioned as a fleet of converted Boeing 747s that would fire laser beams to destroy enemy missiles soon after launch, before they could release decoys.
The cost: $5.3 billion.
- The Kinetic Energy Interceptor, a rocket designed to be fired from land or sea to destroy enemy missiles during their early stage of flight.
The cost: $1.7 billion.
- The Multiple Kill Vehicle, a cluster of miniature interceptors that would destroy enemy missiles along with any decoys.
The cost: nearly $700 million.
Source

Expensive missteps really have become a trademark of the Missile Defense Agency. Like as the majority of lastest Pentagon`s research activities.
Whatever the military wants the military gets. None of these projects have been shown to do anything to improve the lives of fellow Americans

First you realize the whole concept of R&D is to research. All programs can't be a success or we aren't pushing the envelope You don't lead by playing it totally safe all the time.

Second, wow, if in the national budget you're that upset about $10 billion, you must be ready to burn down the white house and string Obama from the nearest tree for Obamacare.

Republicans wasted $26 Billion in shutting down the government and that was only over three weeks not ten years

 

[kaz]

Republicans wasted $26 Billion in shutting down the government and that was only over three weeks not ten years

That was stunning, wasn't it RW? Who but Obama is so incompetent that he spent more to not operate the government than it would have cost to operate it. Wow, what an idiot he is.

Do you suppose he spent the $26 billion putting up blockades for monuments and parks? What did he do with it? It is an amazing story of incompetence, even on the scale of government

 

[SteadyMercury]

This just in... new technology projects don't always work!

 

[rightwinger]

Republicans wasted $26 Billion in shutting down the government and that was only over three weeks not ten years

That was stunning, wasn't it RW? Who but Obama is so incompetent that he spent more to not operate the government than it would have cost to operate it. Wow, what an idiot he is.

Do you suppose he spent the $26 billion putting up blockades for monuments and parks? What did he do with it? It is an amazing story of incompetence, even on the scale of government

Lets see.....In a shutdown, the Government, by law, has to close non-essential functions and you put parks at the top of the list of essential functions?

Because of a Republican temper tantrum, we had to pay one third of the federal government to stay home for three weeks

 

[rightwinger]

This just in... new technology projects don't always work!

The technologies in the OP are "Star Wars" technologies. They do not currently exist. The fact that some of them were not ready for prime time is not surprising