5 Cuts Pentagon Should Make Now

Start with the F-35 mistake: Paul Barrett
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 26, 2013 12:08 PM CST
5 Cuts Pentagon Should Make Now
This undated photo provided by Northrop Grumman shows a pre-production model of the F-35 fighter jet.   (AP)

To hear the Pentagon tell it, the looming sequester cuts will hurt military readiness and put the nation at genuine risk. "Flapdoodle," writes Paul Barrett at Businessweek. "The military is manufacturing a crisis to protect its wasteful, bloated, poorly designed budget." He suggests five cuts the Pentagon can make now to solve the crisis:

  • F-35 jets: It's time to stop this $400 billion boondoggle. The program is 70% over budget, seven years behind schedule, and the first jets produced already have problems. What's more, knowledgeable critics don't think the planes are that much better than existing jets.

  • M-1 tanks: Unless we're planning a ground war in Europe anytime soon, these combat tanks offer little strategic value. And yet, Congress plans to spend billions to update them.
  • Littoral Combat Ship: This ship is supposed to be an expensive and versatile patrol vessel, but the cost per ship has doubled to $440 million. Oh, and "evaluators have determined that its guns aren’t effective, meaning it might not survive in combat."
Click for the full list, which includes the expensive and too-massive Ground Combat Vehicle. Meanwhile, the Senate's No. 2 Republican is arguing that sequester cuts won't hurt the Pentagon anyway, reports CNN. (More sequester stories.)

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