Image: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain photograph from defenseimagery.mil)
It should come as no surprise that large defense contractors have long misled the U.S. military into acquiring expensive equipment when cheaper commercial options were easily accessible—but those days are coming to an end.
According to a November 14 Reuters report, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told reporters, “(The) defense industrial base broadly, and the primes in particular, conned the American people and the Pentagon and the Army.”
The Gateway Pundit Spoke to retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub, a former UH-60 Black Hawk pilot and battalion commander. As a retired senior Army Aviation officer, Gaub said he has had “an insider’s view” of the military acquisition process, spanning from Congress to the defense industry.
He remarked, “[This acquisition process] inherently favors winners and losers because it is excessively bureaucratic and designed to continuously reward large companies that have the time and resources to navigate a process filled with numerous hurdles.”
Driscoll pointed out that, in some ways, the government was to blame for establishing incentive structures that motivated companies to set exorbitant prices.
Gaub agreed, saying, “These same companies have the financial capability to reward their trusted politicians who allow contracts that not only encourage sole-source acquisitions of major end-item equipment but also multi-year maintenance support packages consisting of overly expensive parts and specialized contract labor.”
“This is not only true for aircraft and ships, but also for numerous unwieldy digital systems whose repair and replacement rely heavily on contractors,” he said. “Companies restrict access to knowledge and components that would allow servicemembers to repair equipment in the field.”
Gaub asserted, “This is why a knob that small companies could make for $15 will cost $47,000 because contracts restrict supplies and drive away competition as a result.”
The retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel is correct. The Army has previously stated that while a control knob for a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter produced by Lockheed Martin costs tens of thousands as part of a complete assembly, it could be produced separately for only $15.
“As America looks to catch up to emerging and future threats that I predicted twenty years ago,” Gaub argued, “we risk allowing smaller and less industrialized nations with small economies to match our lethality because we spend millions of dollars on the same equipment that will only cost them thousands.”
For him, “This means we drain the taxpayers to reward military contractors who rely on Congress to keep the market out of reach for startup companies that can do the same job as well or better than the big ones.”
The former UH-60 Black Hawk pilot and battalion commander further explained, “The result is inferior equipment at a significant cost that will take years to acquire and start their lifespan in the military, already twenty years behind current technology, [while] at the same time, the big companies laugh all the way to the bank.”
However, according to Driscoll, “The system has changed. You will no longer be allowed to do that to the United States Army.”
The post $47,000 for a $15 Control Knob is a Prime Illustration of How the U.S. Military Has Been ‘Conned’—‘But the System Has Changed’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.