• Adkml [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      35·
      9 months ago

      That’s been my impression of anything made in America in the last 2 decades.

      Equally as shitty as the cheapest garbage you can find except it also weighs 4 times as much and costs 10 times as much.

  • regul [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    50·
    9 months ago

    If you ever want an answer as to why something is fucked up in the US, 99% of the time it’s because it was contracted out to like 50 different companies instead of just being done in-house.

    See: transit construction, healthcare, student loan administration, I’m sure there are more

      • regul [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        11·
        9 months ago

        Most companies are suffering from the same disease as the government which is contract fetishization and “running lean”, but there certainly exist within this country enough engineers who could simply be federal government employees and design fighter jets.

        (If building better and cheaper fighter jets were something we wanted, but I do not think it is. Would be nice for trains, though.)

  • VILenin [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    39·
    9 months ago

    Why are you all acting like it’s a failure? It’s purpose isn’t to conduct combat missions, it’s to make money, and it’s done that better than any other piece of military technology that has ever existed.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OPEnglish
      191·
      9 months ago

      Exactly, the incentives for government contractors and the government itself lead to projects being prolonged or expanded beyond their original scope because contractors are incentivized to over-promise and under-deliver, knowing that they will still be able to secure future contracts and revenue streams. This also leads to a culture of cronyism and corruption, where certain contractors are favored over others due to their political connections or ability to influence government officials. Additionally, the lack of transparency and accountability in government contracting makes it difficult to determine whether a project is truly successful or not. Failures are swept under the rug, and contractors are able to continue receiving lucrative contracts despite poor performance.

      Furthermore, defense contractors, the Pentagon, and elected officials, all work together to ensure that military spending remains high. This military industrial complex is fundamentally driven by a desire for profit, rather than the public interest or national security. As a result, military spending is always prioritized at the expense of other areas, such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure. The ultimate goal here is to divert taxes from things they’re meant for back into the hands of the oligarchs.

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    36·
    9 months ago

    I can’t find the 85% are fucked number in the report, but the relevant quote seems to be

    As of March 2023, the air vehicle availability rates for the U.S. fleet were: F-35A 50 percent, F-35B 50.9 percent, and F-35C 57.2 percent. The air vehicle availability goal for the F-35A is 90 percent and the goal for the F-35B and F-35C is 85 percent.

    which is better, but still completely pathetic.

  • marxisthayaca [he/him,they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    20·
    9 months ago

    I find the recent stock-taking of military capabilities, a bit of a concern. My question is whether they are gonna look at everything and go “let’s solve this peacefully” or “Let’s bomb them anyways”.

    • SSJ2Marx@hexbear.netEnglish
      9·
      9 months ago

      I think the Ukraine War made a lot of people on the MIC reassess their readiness and realize that they would be running into all of the problems that Russia has run into if they got into an actual war again. So now we’ve got a lot of talking about how fucked everything is, but of course the only response our system can think up is pumping more money into falling programs.

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    16·
    9 months ago

    The Pentagon: “We got this. In the interest of national security we must continue to throw trillions of dollars at the F-35 program until these minor issues are worked out.”

    Google…

    The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program remains DOD’s most expensive weapon system program. It is estimated that it will cost over $1.7 trillion to buy, operate, and sustain these aircraft.

    Dec 12, 2023

  • AnastasiyaSoyka [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    13·
    9 months ago

    Fuck, sorry guys, I keep stumbling into the cockpit drunk and splashing bourbon all over the controls, and, sheesh, wouldn’t ya know it, the darn things can’t hold their liquor!