The Unfuckingbelievable rape of taxpayers by the Military Industrial Complex

Cost of buying, flying military's new jet fighter to reach $1 trillion, audit says

The cost of buying and operating a new fleet of jet fighters for the U.S. military is nearing $1 trillion, according to a congressional audit that found the program dogged by delays, manufacturing inefficiencies and price increases.

Released Tuesday, the report from the Government Accountability Office offers a sobering assessment of the ambitious effort to deliver a modern series of aircraft known as the F-35 Lightning II to the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

Tasked by Congress to conduct an annual assessment of the program, the GAO said costs have gone up by $23 billion since last year alone.

Close to $300 billion is needed to acquire 2,458 aircraft for the three services and another $650 billion will be needed to operate and maintain the fighters that are expected to be flying well into the 21st century, the report says.

Operating costs, projected at $346 billion just a few years ago, have been driven upward by changes in repair plans, revised costs for depot maintenance, higher fuel costs and increased fuel consumption.

The GAO's auditors said they expect development and procurement costs "to increase substantially and schedule pressures to worsen based on performance to date."

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, is the prime contractor for the Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, also sees many of the problems as self-inflicted.

"The contractor has extended manufacturing schedules several times, but test aircraft delivery dates continue to slip," the report states. "The flight test program has barely begun, but faces substantial risks with reduced assets as design and manufacturing problems continue to cause delays that further compress the time available to complete development."

Auditors criticized both the military and the contractor for pressing into the jet's development's phase before key technologies were mature, started manufacturing test aircraft before designs were stable, and moved to production before flight tests showed the aircraft was ready.

"We do not know the basis for the GAO estimates and until we receive and analyze their data we will be unable to comment on them," Lockheed spokesman John Smith said in an e-mailed statement.

Smith, however, said the company has been careful stewards of U.S. tax dollars by trimming costs wherever possible.

"We continue to apply the same kind of oversight, budget alignment and lean thinking to the program," he said.

Production of the Lightning II has begun and the Defense Department is scheduled to buy the aircraft through 2034. U.S. allies are also buying hundreds of the jets and are contributing $4.8 billion in development costs.

The Lightning II is being produced in several different models tailored to the needs of each service. The new jet will replace the Air Forces F-16 Falcon and the A-10 Warthog aircraft. A short takeoff and vertical landing version will replace the Marine Corps F/A-18C/D and AV-8B Harrier aircraft. And the Navy is buying a model designed for taking off and landing on aircraft carriers.

650 Lockheed Martin engineers face layoffs

Bush to ask for $50B more for war vehicles

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Much of the new request -- which would bring the total 2008 budget for operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere to nearly $200 billion -- will go to refurbish and purchase new military equipment such as mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs, The New York Times reported.
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Legislators have already approved $1.2 billion more than the $2.6 billion the Bush administration initially sought for the vehicles in fiscal year 2007. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., has introduced legislation to further increase funding for MRAPs by $23.6 billion.

Lockheed Martin earns billions training thousands to guard Saudi oil

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The United States has also overseen an effort to modernize the Saudi Arabian National Guard, comprised of 75,000 people. The Bush administration also intends to sell at least $20 billion in weapons to Riyad.

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George Bush Seated Next to Robert J Stevens. Billions of taxpayer dollars changing hands.

Lockheed Martin Corp.'s CEO Robert J. Stevens

Lockheed Martin Corp.'s CEO Robert J. Stevens has had a lucrative career at the nation's largest defense contractor, and his pay has been outlined to shareholders for years.

But investors didn't know how lucrative his retirement could be. The Bethesda-based company has disclosed for the first time that in addition to $5.2 million in salary and bonus, plus stock awards and perks last year, Stevens also accrued more than $2 million in three pension plans, two 401(k) plans and a tax-advantaged plan mostly used by the corporate elite.
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Stevens, whose pay package totaled $18.6 million, ranked among the highest-paid CEOs in Maryland last year, according to a survey by Salary.com of companies with headquarters here. Others included Constellation Energy Group Inc.'s Mayo A. Shattuck III, whose compensation package was worth $20 million, and Legg Mason Inc.'s Raymond A. "Chip" Mason, whose package was valued at $13.7 million.

Government's Largest Contract with Private Industry

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According to AOPA, one of the most politically influential pilot organizations, many pilots have experienced safety-compromising problems ranging from extremely long hold times to inaccurate weather information. These problems are serious and deserve the attention of AOPA, FAA Administrator Marian Blakely and the aviation subcommittees in Congress, all of whom supported the privatization of the flight service system more than three years ago. The transition from government control to the private sector is one with obvious challenges and it is difficult to understand how supporters have quickly become turncoats -- criticizing Lockheed Martin when difficulties surface and taking malicious actions when they could continue to support the company and ease the transition.

Further complicating matters is a workforce of specialists who fought unsuccessfully to prevent the privatization of their careers with hopes of saving their government pensions. According to an age-discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of flight service specialists, 92 percent of the flight service workforce is over 40 years old. The lawsuit alleges that "... there is no reasonable factor other than the age of the workforce that is motivating this contracting-out decision." The only option for those specialists who hoped to maintain their pension was to find another federal job. The greatest challenge: Many flight service specialists (and air traffic controllers) have specialized skills, but are not formally educated beyond a high school diploma, making it difficult to transition into another government position.

An uncomfortable workforce that faces financial uncertainty coupled with the disgruntled flying public has made it very difficult to provide pilots with a needed service. It is important for pilots to afford flight service specialists with similar patience and graciousness once offered to them by their flight instructors. We are learning a new system that was forced on us as a result of decisions largely supported by pilot organizations and politicians under the pretense of the best interests of pilots in mind.

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Lockheed Given another billion dollars of taxpayer money to privatize military

Oval Office In The Sky

The next president will have an "Oval Office In The Sky" aboard what is described as the most technologically advanced helicopter ever built. According to a news release, the AgustaWestland/Lockheed Martin VH-71 flew for the first time on July 3 and test pilots reported the aircraft performed well on the 40-minute flight at Italy-based AgustaWestland’s facilities in Yeovil, England. The flight occurred 30 months after the controversial contract was awarded (this will be the first Marine One that isn’t designed and built by a U.S. firm) and the company says it’s on track for on-time delivery of the first aircraft in late 2009. Although it’s a European design, the presidential helicopters are being developed with Lockheed Martin and will be assembled by Bell Helicopter in Texas.

Angry Reaction To Selection of Lockheed To Replace Canada's Aging Transports

Canada will spend $3.2 billion to acquire 17 C-130Js, as well as on infrastructure, training, and other related project expenses.
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Not only can the C-27J perform most of the same missions of the Lockheed craft at a third of the purchase price and a fifth of the maintenance cost, Giordo added -- it can also be used to replace Canada's aging search-and-rescue aircraft, saving even more money.
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The FSS Mess, Privatization and the Lack of Personal Responsibility

Somewhere, somehow, Marion Blakey and her Administration seem to have lost sight of their mandate to provide for the safety of American citizens who travel by air. Perhaps it was when she made the decision to get rid of those pesky general aviation aircraft by starting the user-fee juggernaut. Perhaps it was earlier, when someone saw that one of the portions of the FAA, the Flight Service Station system, was carrying out its designated function rapidly, accurately, safely, and generally working in a nearly flawless manner. Naturally the reaction was that such a situation was intolerable. Because ongoing competence in the field of safe aviation could not be allowed to continue, the FAA went through a grueling and expensive process to fix it. In October of 2005, ostensibly to save the taxpayers money, it entered into a $1.7 billion contract to "privatize" (is that really a verb?) a portion of the FAA that worked well. I know, children ... one would think that if private industry could do a government function better than the government, then the FAA would have privatized one of the parts of the FAA that doesn't work. Children, such a thought would require us to apply that evil concept, logic, to the operation of political machinery. Children, you know very well that logic should never be used when traveling through the looking glass into privatization land.

The $1.7 billion contract with Lockheed-Martin was to save 20% off the cost of having the work done by FAA personnel, who apparently were evil, money-grubbing government employees who had committed the mortal sin of competence. Of course, there were those sticks-in-the-mud who felt that the numbers didn't add up. After all, you have to pay enough to hire the kind of talent needed to staff the Flight Service Stations, located where the briefers could have detailed local knowledge of the prevailing weather patterns, and equip them with the latest computers, and finally allow for the kind of profit that shareholders will demand (on the order of 8-15%). How can Lockheed-Martin do this for less than the folks who have been doing it so very well for so many years without the cost of a return to the stockholding mutual funds?

Well, those who were skeptical were told to close their eyes, click their heels together and get with the program. Even when the FAA's own internal investigative folks looked at the contract and pronounced that there were grave doubts as to whether Lockheed-Martin could pull it off, Marion Blakey and her friends decided that such talk was defeatist and shouldn't be considered. Besides, Lockheed-Martin contributed nicely to the appropriate politicians, so a politically appointed sort doesn't want to make waves, even if she is in a job involving air safety. Nevertheless, for people whose sole purpose in employment is air safety, to shrug off an objective report by one's own agency that indicates that a critical safety function is imperiled is, at least in my opinion, reckless and irresponsible in handling our money. If someone dies as a result, it may become criminal.