Tuesday, July 21, 2009

It's a miracle!

U.S. Senate votes to stop production of F-22 jet

Now - can we start dismantling the ill-conceived so-called 'missile defense' program?... and the other very expensive, less-than-effective high-tech weapons programs?...
... and maybe invest defense $$$ in our troops? - the guys fighting - and losing to - under-funded 3rd-world insurgents.

The objective of war is to secure a more-or-less lasting peace.
Winning the peace requires controlling territory and populations.
So-called 'surgical' strikes by high-tech drones might take out bad guys, but they don't control territory or populations.
Boots on the ground just might.

[just for grins: conservative cost estimate of single F-22 = $150Mn. At $50K/troop, this is equivalent to 3000 boots-on-the-ground. The $150Mn does NOT include program cost, just 'sticker price'... excluding maintenance or 'cost of ownership'. The article cited above notes that the F-22 requires 30 hours of maintenance for each hour of flight-time. Me? I'd much rather have the 3000 boots-on-the-ground!]

No comments:

Post a Comment