Riggo-toni Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 As its rivals invest in new military hardware, Washington is stuck refurbishing obsolete equipment http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/29/americas-military-is-choking-on-old-technology/ The current rate of technological change may make many current U.S. military systems obsolete in the coming decades. Advances in artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, material science, and nanotechnology threaten to produce qualitative — not just incremental — change in the conduct of warfare in the near future. Although the U.S. has spent far more on standing military forces than other countries, for far longer, this accumulated advantage is also a vulnerability. It presents an opportunity for Washington’s international adversaries and competitors to reap the advantage of their backwardness and leapfrog the U.S. with emerging technology. This is exacerbated by the Pentagon’s commitment to significant investment in existing systems, the proverbial “last year’s model.” ... Major defense firms and lobbyists seeking profits and members of Congress seeking jobs in their districts ensure that legacy defense programs continue for years beyond their “state of the art” days. For these actors, replacing and upgrading existing systems with expensive new features (referred to as “gold-plating”) seems to be the safest way to satisfy their parochial interests. Rest at link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 At first glance, fairly appalling considering the sheer amount of money that’s dedicated to our military although unsurprising considering government waste that encroaches on every dollar of tax collected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 It is something that ought to be addressed. More and more, superior technology is key to military supremacy. It's not a numbers game, but an innovation game. I don't know how much of the article is hyperbolic or cherry picked, but we all ought to want our military to be beyond cutting edge. Heck, we pay enough for it to be so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterMP Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Honestly, I'm a little worried about the over dependence of our military on technology. I'm a little worried that the next war is actually going to be fought without GPS, etc. (And I understand that the Naval Academy eliminated (star based) navigation as a course requirement.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 10 minutes ago, PeterMP said: Honestly, I'm a little worried about the over dependence of our military on technology. I'm a little worried that the next war is actually going to be fought without GPS, etc. (And I understand that the Naval Academy eliminated (star based) navigation as a course requirement.) Reminds me of a quote I like: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExoDus84 Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 My first thought is that, if the DOD/Military can't maintain an insurmountable advantage over every other military on earth given the insane amount of financial resources at hand, then why the hell should they get another dollar more? It's already disgusting the amount of treasure wasted on military spending / waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsmarydu Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 11 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said: Reminds me of a quote I like: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones" I've heard that too. Don't know what I was watching recently, but it showed a Naval ship's "control panel" that looked exactly like something of the sort from my ship...in the 80s. Needless to say, I was stuck with my mouth open in shock. My '99 Monte Carlo with factory everything is more up-to-date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 4 minutes ago, skinsmarydu said: I've heard that too. Don't know what I was watching recently, but it showed a Naval ship's "control panel" that looked exactly like something of the sort from my ship...in the 80s. Needless to say, I was stuck with my mouth open in shock. My '99 Monte Carlo with factory everything is more up-to-date. I think a lot of the issue is how long it takes things to go from concept to the fleet. By the time the sales pitch is made, contracts signed, concepts built and accepted, bids put out, actual product built, and delivered to the fleet, then sent back for bugs to be worked out so we have an actual working product, it may have been a dozen years. And that is a dozen years that technology continued to grow but not implemented. Research how long it took for the Navy to think about replacing the F-14 to being completely outfitted with the replacement F-18. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsmarydu Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Not to mention...between "bids put out" & "actual product built", the cost mysteriously rises about 40%. (I could use some of those little black clicky pens, btw...?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FanboyOf91 Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 57 minutes ago, ExoDus84 said: My first thought is that, if the DOD/Military can't maintain an insurmountable advantage over every other military on earth given the insane amount of financial resources at hand, then why the hell should they get another dollar more? It's already disgusting the amount of treasure wasted on military spending / waste. Congressional pork. The F-35 project is a masterpiece of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megared Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Part of the issue is certainly how onerous the acquisitions process is. Here's a diagram of JCIDS: This is as political a process as anything else, considering there are multiple choke points. You're looking at 5-7 years (with timely approvals and consensus) before a requirement is ready to be fielded. A process was certainly necessary after the Bradley boondoggle...but we've swung awfully far in the opposite direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 1 hour ago, PeterMP said: Honestly, I'm a little worried about the over dependence of our military on technology. I'm a little worried that the next war is actually going to be fought without GPS, etc. (And I understand that the Naval Academy eliminated (star based) navigation as a course requirement.) My father learned with a watch and a transit. Though he has been retired for many years he is adamant that the recent flurry of naval ship collisions is a result of too much technology in the bridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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