Making Danger Room’s list of “6 Weapons that Love the New Pentagon Budget” is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, pictured above being escorted by F-18 Hornets. Somewhat ironically, the Hornets have many of the same capabilities as the F-35 but come at a fraction of the F-35’s $200 million per plane price tag. Meanwhile, the F-35 has been plagued with cost overruns, performance issues and is what we like to refer to as “the jet that ate the Pentagon.” (Photo from the U.S. Marine Corps.)
“Pentagon math like this, where reductions in increases are counted as savings while actual budget levels rise, doesn’t actually save taxpayers a dime. This gimmick isn’t too dissimilar from claiming a raise you didn’t receive as lost income on your tax returns (do not attempt).”
Air Force Budget Seeks to Buy More F-35s, Reduce Ranks →
The 2014 budget request from the Air Force includes funding for 19 additional F-35 fighter jets and cuts active-duty personnel by 1,900 airmen, according to an article in DoD Buzz.
The Air Force is already the most top-heavy branch in a military that for years has been cutting enlisted personnel while increasing top officers, a phenomenon known as “brass creep.” The Project On Government Oversight has long been a critic of both brass creep and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Hagel: A Secretary of Defense Reforms? →
The new Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, seems to be ditching the hyperbolic rhetoric of his predecessor for real consideration of reforms and cuts to the Pentagon. Find out what he said in his first major speech.
DOD Inspector General Finds $900 Million Spare Part Stockpile →
The Army bought nearly $900 million worth of spare parts for the Stryker armored fighting vehicle even as the parts became obsolete or unnecessary, according to a report by the Defense Department Office of Inspector General.
Including:
- $57 million worth of uninstalled, obsolete infrared equipment
- 9,179 small replacement gears, of which the Army only needed 15
Almost one million veterans are waiting for their benefit claims to be processed, according to an investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting. One regional office in North Carolina was so overrun with claims folders that the sheer weight of their content exceeded the load-bearing capacity of the building itself.
These photos were included in a 2012 report from the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. To see more photos and learn more about the backlog, go here.
These photos are insane. 1) Because there are so many files and 2) because they are PAPER. Click the link above for even more.
The VA is Severly Backlogged, and It May Be Costing Lives →
Military veterans experience “excessive wait time” for medical care, leading to higher incidences of preventable hospitalizations and death, according to a scientific research council.
Drawing on the findings of recent government and scholarly studies, a report issued this week by the Institute of Medicine paints a picture of a healthcare system that is understaffed, undertrained, and inaccessible.
Jon Stewart Tears Into “Criminal” VA Backlog
On Wednesday’s episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart decried the extremely long wait times veterans are facing for their disability claims and medical appointments despite an increase in funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(Source: dailyshow.com)
“This is a weapons system that the Pentagon won’t use and Congress doesn’t want to fund. We shouldn’t waste any more money on a ‘missile to nowhere’ that will never reach the battlefield.”
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. on Lockheed Martin’s latest missile defense system.
Read more: The Missile Defense System That Won’t Die
(Source: dodbuzz.com)
