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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNext time someone says "America is broke", show them this article:
Pentagon needs $12.6 billion per year through 2037 for F-35: Report.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon needs to budget $12.6 billion each year through 2037 to finish developing and paying for all the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighters it plans to buy, according to a report released by a congressional watchdog agency on Monday.
This amounts to $2 billion more in projected annual funding needs than the Government Accountability Office (GAO) had included in a draft report obtained and published by Reuters on Saturday.
The draft report excluded the cost of the fighter's single engine, which is built by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, said Joe DellaVedova, a spokesman for the Pentagon's F-35 program office.
The report said the Pentagon was expected to shell out $316 billion through 2037 on the remaining development and purchase of the radar-evading warplane, on top of billions of dollars already spent, for a total program cost of around $400 billion.
The rest: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-needs-12-6-billion-222706531.html
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But lets cut social security, medicare, & food-aid to those already struggling to survive instead.
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Scuba
(53,475 posts)... just what is it the defense budget is defending?
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Food, not bombs.
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)with all the neglect of the people being defended then, how would you defend from internal conflicts that might arise if the masses won't accept their mandatory austerity? There are certain people that might need protection and so, no weapon will be wasted.
Those weapons may come in handy and when you may potentially be dealing with millions of people, the best military toys that technology can create are a useful second option if propaganda won't continue to work. So far, we are fortunate that the major corporate media can do the job, along with other factors.
That stuff could all come in very handy when the Empire inverts on its own people, should they allow their resentment and anger to boil over, or if the psychotropic management medication supply were suddenly interrupted.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)
Thav
(950 posts)Hunger is satiation, Sickness is health, Destitution is Prosperity.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)that the money spent on the military is literally killing people at home. Quite paradoxical as the military was supposed to protect us. For every dollar we spend on the MIC some poor soul has one less dollar to live on and pay for their healthcare.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)
libodem
(19,288 posts)MyshkinCommaPrince
(611 posts)The 1% and the corporations need their protections, presumably.
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)Budget?! WHAT budget?! 
DetlefK
(16,670 posts)
niyad
(132,440 posts)of their damned toys, that doesn't even work properly (or is that another one of their toys, hard to keep track)
"It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber” (I used to have this on a t-shirt, which I wore every time I knew the recruiters would be around. really annoyed them.
Mnpaul
(3,655 posts)minus the engine. On top of that, they not only want one engine but two from two different manufacturers. This number is a gross understatement.
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)It is, if I recall correctly some Senator that wants the other engine.
Mnpaul
(3,655 posts)it is just like the C-130. The military doesn't want that either. They wanted five and congress purchased 256.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/disturbing-history-one-pentagons-most-expensive-flying-turkeys?page=0%2C1
Kennah
(14,578 posts)
Initech
(108,782 posts)And how many perfectly good planes do we have stored in Tuscon and Victorville? 
FreeBC
(403 posts)It's their crooked representatives that keep this thing alive.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)...advances in computer and flight technology and I guarantee you, this jet will start to be obsolete in 8-10 years.
Anybody want to buy a new Windows 98 disk for $299.00 ?? I'll even throw in the piece-of-junk computer for free.
JHB
(38,213 posts)...from 1974 to 2006. The F-15 was introduced two years after the F-14 and is still in service. Both saw a variety of upgrades throughout their operational lifetimes.
Except for the bloatware factor, the Windows comparison isn't really on the mark. The biggest reason for opposing the plane is the sheer cost of the program. Loaded-up inflated programs like this are why we spend more on the military than the next 12 (or more now?) countries combined.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)...quite possible by 2037...or perhaps even before, there might be satellite systems that could disable planes through some
sort of electromagnetic pulse technology.
Yes..I might be pushing the envelope as far as advances in science go but if I'm wrong, your points are still extremely valid.
The damn thing just costs us more than money. 
Paul E Ester
(952 posts)The planes of the future will be able to fly 24/7 refueling in the sky. Eventually the needs of a pilot like sleep/food/bio will get in the way of this 24/7 coverage and the'll become UAV's.
The F35 platform isn't designed from the ground up like that. It will be like a Hummer that they slapped armor and a turret on, soon enough it's undrivable so you design it's replacement the mrap.
It's possible the top gun goes the way of the cavalry.
bec
(107 posts)the people who are saying that we are broke will not read this. 
John2
(2,730 posts)the last major external War Russia had was before the Soviet Union broke up. They still possess the largest nuclear arsenal in the World but their only outside threat appears to be the United States. Why aren't the Terrorists threatening Russia? You have to admire how the Russian people defeated Hitler's Armies, regardless of their politics. And someone criticised how they treated East German citizens but after studying that War, I think the Red Army took revenge on the Germans, even though it was horrible. The Red Army did to Germans what the Nazis did to their women and children. I can see why the Germans didn't want to surrender to the Red Army and don't blame them.
BrainDrain
(244 posts)This country has always had enough money to bomb the shit outa anyone in the world we wanted to, but never enough money to feed or house or care for those here at home that we really needed to.
If that ain't ass backwards, nothing is.
grilled onions
(1,957 posts)They have to brag around the world that they can kill us off over and over again. In the world of the practical many a kid would rather buy a toy with "gift" money then buy underwear. Feeding the poor,caring for the sick,education,infrastructure is their "underwear" and resent having to take underwear money and not be able to spend it on war toys.
City Lights
(25,826 posts)
timdog44
(1,388 posts)in regards to what you are saying.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022438103
tclambert
(11,193 posts)Kinda dirty and smelly, in fact. Don't you wanna hang with the cool kids?
Oh, and old people! Don't get me started. Don't they all smell like oatmeal? Jet planes or oatmeal with Wilford Brimley. C'mon. $168 per year for a family of four gets you new jet fighters, in case we ever need to fight someone who has their own jet fighters, like, um, Germany. Those Germans haven't made much noise in a while now.
go west young man
(4,856 posts)Smilo
(2,031 posts)At least that’s the impression given in a scathing Pentagon report leaked this week that identifies a huge number of problems facing the U.S. military’s F-35 fleet — including fears that it can easily be shot down.
From radars that don’t work, to blurry vision from the aircraft’s sophisticated helmet, to an inability to fly through clouds, the report, which includes pilot comments, paints a picture of a jet nowhere near ready for real-life operations.
F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin is refusing to comment, but the report’s revelations will likely give Canadian military planners pause as they continue assessing options for replacing Canada’s aging CF-18s.
The February report from the Pentagon’s chief testing office is based on trial run at the U.S. military’s Eglin Air Force Base in Florida from September to November of last year.
The testing, which was supposed to determine whether aircraft the U.S. had already bought from Lockheed Martin were good enough to start training U.S. fighter pilots with, was actually supposed to take place in August 2011.
But it had to be postponed because a number of critical issues were identified in the aircraft — the majority of which remained unresolved more than a year later.
Because those problems — including issues with the ejector seat — hadn’t been resolved, only experienced U.S. Air Force pilots were allowed to participate in the two-month test.
In addition, a second aircraft had to follow the first at all times, and engine starts had to be monitored with a special equipment to reduce the likelihood of a fire.
Even then, the testing was extremely basic and “did not cover . . . in essence, everything that makes the F-35A a modern, advanced fighter,” reads the report, obtained by the Washington-based watchdog group Project on Government Oversight.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/06/f-35-design-problems-make-night-flying-impossible-increase-risk-of-being-shot-down-u-s-pilots-warn/
Dryvinwhileblind
(153 posts)lib2DaBone
(8,124 posts)the 1% that control the military and the budget..... are criminal.
They have no problem spending $1 BILLION per week in Afghanistan... then in the next breath.... tell us that we must cut heating assistance to 80-year-olds.
Our aging Nuclear plants need replacing, our roads and bridges are collapsing... we are going to have a shortage of Doctors by 2018.
And.. (like the big bad wolf) they are licking their chops as they drool over our Social Security . They WANT our Social Security cash more than anything in the world.. so they can piss it away on lavish vacations and bonus perks to themselves.
paleotn
(22,212 posts)....ever deployed in such limited numbers. This thing makes the Osprey look like the most well manged, fiscally sound program of all time. It's overly complex, over designed, supposed to fill damn near every roll the DoD can think of, but so far does none of them terribly well. Time to stop throwing good money after bad and cancel the damn thing. I'd bet real money the aircraft never fires a single shot in anger, ever. It's simply welfare in the form of defense contracts, which makes it just A-OK with right wing, so called fiscal conservatives.
unhappycamper
(60,364 posts)B-2: $2.1 billion dollars each; cost per flying hour is around $140 grand.
That price is gonna be tough to beat. 
I do agree the F-35 is a gigantic waste of money.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Kennah
(14,578 posts)Didn't anyone see "Independence Day"? Look at what they did to our F-18s. We also need much bigger nukes. Again I refer you to "Independence Day".
Quantess
(27,630 posts)K & R
OnlinePoker
(6,127 posts)That only leave $987.4 billion to go to balance the budget. What else do we cut?