Originally Posted by
endersblade
The problem is the way the military buys and plans out its purchases.
It tries to find the lowest bidder for the highest tech, and plans out payments for 10, 20, or more years. The problem is, that tech gets outdated at some point, and by the time all the kinks have been worked out and we have them on even rotation everywhere, we could have paid a third of the price for them. Planes, tanks, you name it. It's so the gov't doesn't have to spend a huge chunk all at once. But then years later, they need to upgrade, but they're still paying off the previous, now obsolete hardware.
and within that problem, they don't get the HIGHEST tech at the time, most of the time. They usually settle for second, third, or even fourth best - whatever is still leagues ahead of what we have, but doesn't cost as much as the top of the line.
On the flip side, you have things like the F-14. That fucking plane has been on active duty for longer than most of us have been alive. They got their money's worth out of it. But they're all aging, we don't make new ones anymore. Legacy hardware isn't as easy to upkeep because we just don't keep the parts around - they have to be machined, which then costs money.
The military just can't find that sweet spot of spending vs what you get vs how long it's useful.
And all of this has been conglomerated into, fuck, people are tired of wasting money on last year's tech. People are tired of the gov't spending within the military. Nobody wants to reinvent the wheel anymore, because the contracts are pointless.