The Problem with the Modern US Military

Currently the military is having many problems with research, development and procurement. I think I know why they are having all these problems. Other than the ever shrinking budget. They are trying too hard to get all in one weapons systems. These programs are proving to be too ambitious, are having budget overruns, are taking longer than expected to complete and are producing sub par systems.

Example 1: The F-35
Named the Joint Strike Fighter it is meant to do all things air superiority, close air support and strike missions while also being supposed to be able to to  carrier take off and landing, STOVL and to work off of conventional airfields. It was supposed to do all of this while at the same time being stealthy.

However the program is now being predicted to cost over a trillion dollars in total. The cost per plane that was originally supposed to be around 60 million dollars per plane is closer to 185 million dollars per plane. The F-35 was supposed to be in full operation by 2012 it is still not supposed to be in full operation until July of this year for the Marines and the Navy aren't going to put theirs in service until 2019. Also lets look at the fact that studies have proved that it's stealth isn't that great. Also that it will be less effective than any of the aircraft its replacing in any of the roles it is supposed to be able to do.

Example 2: The Littoral Combat Ship(LCS)
The LCS is replacing the Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigates. However in an effort to make it an all in one vessel the Navy decided to only give it a bare bones weapons compliment of a few guns and surface to air missiles saying that they can add other weapons if the need arises for a specific mission. Also the LCS has been discovered to have decreased survivability from the Oliver Hazard Perry Frigates. Also as its name suggests it is meant to conduct operations in littoral areas so it will not be effective as say a carrier or MEU escort as the frigates they are replacing have done in the past. In summary the LCS is an under equipped vessel with decreased survivability and cannot do any of the jobs it is supposed to do really well.

Example 3 ACV 1.1
This program comes from the Marines. The USMC was going to replace their aging AAVs with the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle(EFV). However the EFV was cancelled due to costs. The USMC was going to replace their LAV-25s with the Marine Personnel Carrier(MPC). That program was cancelled due to costs. So the HQMC decided lets combine the two projects and call it the ACV 1.1. The idea behind it being an amphibious wheeled armored personnel carrier. So now we have gone from two programs that were originally supposed to have already replaced the AAV and LAV-25 and gone to one program where all of the proposed designs are sub par and it isn't supposed to even start replacing AAVs until 2019 and even then it won't replace the whole AAV fleet. Another all in one project that is proving to be too difficult and is failing.

These three examples should give you guys good examples of how the US military s screwing itself over. I want to hear what the people who read this blog think so please comment. This blog is called defense discussion and so far it has been pretty one sided.