No More Tanks, Please!

[jackfengshui]

That's what the U.S. Army is pleading for. Unfortunately, the U.S. Congress (the same folks who gave us the sequestration), in deference to the defense contractors, refuses to listen.

[offshoredrilling]

"But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, "No thanks.""

as that could save my job(will know for me by weeks end till next year LOL)what the Army would rather spend the money would be better for me. errrrrrr both party's suck

there is a need ta keep the Lima Ohio plant open. just not at the pace are reps want. but Ohio is a battle state. So are reps will keep it cranked up for the jobs errrr or is that votes.

[DDarkness]

That is alot of scratch that Congress is pissing away! Especially if the senior military officials are telling them it is an unnecessary expenditure.

The tank, while a highly effective tool on the ground and "in theater operations for ground assaults" there are other things that would make for increased mobility and better sense!

TRUST the men & women on the ground to know what they need NOT the political pundits who have their fingers in the cookie jar!

DD

[Doove]

But look! Over there! Poor people getting food stamps!

Nothing to see here.

[JONBALLS]

if you actually see someone overthere than go over to them and give them a hand up doovie

go jogging with them as alot of poor are usually obese

[drluv1]

Another example of how the defense department is the biggest WELFARE program going. I recall Romney campaigning in South Carolina saying how the sequestration cuts were going to hurt the economy there, no mention on how the cuts were going to diminish our defense capabilities.

[JONBALLS]

is romney the new bush?

[Gotyour6]

They are selling them to other countries as surplus.

They have been doing this for years.

[drluv1]

Originally Posted by Gotyour6

They are selling them to other countries as surplus.

They have been doing this for years.

From the article:
The Lima plant is a study in how federal dollars affect local communities, which in turn hold tight to the federal dollars. The facility is owned by the federal government but operated by the land systems division of General Dynamics, a major defense contractor that spent close to $11 million last year on lobbying, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
WOW, does that smell of socialism!!
Again, From the article:
Current foreign customers are Saudi Arabia, which is getting about five tanks a month, and Egypt, which is getting four. Each country pays all of their own costs. That's a "success story during a period of economic pain," Keating said.


Not only are we subsidizing the economy of Lima, OH, but also of or (dubious?) friends in the middle east.


So they are not selling them as surplus as you stated. I'm not sure what the term " each country pays all of there own cost" exactly means, but given that we are already heavily subsidizing this " industry" should we be selling them at a profit ? is that what capitalists try to do?


The surplus you talk about is typically sold off at .10 on the dollar to arms brokers and more often than not ends up in the hands of our enemies. So we give our technology, though usually outdated, but still valuable in the some parts of the world,at a huge loss to only make our Defense job harder. BRILLIANT!!

[RochBob]

Actually the Technology in the Abrams Tank is far from outdated. It's armor plating is the best in the World as far as a mobile Weapons platform goes. The same with the Electronics that run the Weapons Targeting and other systems. The problem is that it like many of the other large scale systems in the US defense arsenal were designed to confront the "Cold War" era Soviet Union and are not suited for Modern (most often Urban based) combat operations. What the Army and other ground forces need is better personal armor for our Troops (full body armor not just torso protection (ideally with intergrated N.B.C. protection)) and smallar armored vechicles that are more suited to manuvering in the Urban environment. But these are the same folks that brought us the useless B1 Bomber and approved the purchase of the B2 Steath Bomber while at the same time they kicked a quarter of the Active Duty Service Members out because the Soviet Union "Broke Up". And then they started Gulf War 1.