US Politics Thread 2021-24

[Rockstar]

F-35 Aircraft:
DOD and the Military Services Need to Reassess the Future Sustainment Strategy

GAO-23-105341
Published: Sep 21, 2023. Publicly Released: Sep 21, 2023.

Fast Facts

In the coming decades, the Department of Defense plans to spend an estimated $1.7 trillion on nearly 2,500 F-35s. Most of the funds will go to operating, maintaining, and repairing the aircraft.

DOD faces costly maintenance issues for the F-35, such as:

Delays setting up military service depots—facilities to complete the most complex repairs

Inadequate equipment to keep aircraft operational

Maintenance and supply delays affecting aircraft readiness

Also, while DOD intends to transition more maintenance responsibilities from contractors to the government, it doesn't have a plan to achieve this goal.

Our recommendations address these issues.

Highlights

What GAO Found

Maintenance challenges negatively affect F-35 aircraft readiness. The F-35 fleet mission capable rate—the percentage of time the aircraft can perform one of its tasked missions—was about 55 percent in March 2023, far below program goals. This performance was due in part to challenges with depot and organizational maintenance (see fig.). The program was behind schedule in establishing depot maintenance activities to conduct repairs. As a result, component repair times remained slow with over 10,000 waiting to be repaired—above desired levels. At the same time, organizational-level maintenance has been affected by a number of issues, including a lack of technical data and training.

F-35 Maintenance Challenges Negatively Affecting Aircraft Readiness



The Department of Defense (DOD) relies heavily on its contractor to lead and manage F-35 sustainment (see fig.). However, as DOD seeks expanded government control, it has neither (1) determined the desired mix of government and contractor roles, nor (2) identified and obtained the technical data needed to support its desired mix. The military services must take over management of F-35 sustainment by October 2027 and have an opportunity to make adjustments—specifically to the contractor-managed elements. Reassessing its approach could help DOD address its maintenance challenges and reduce costs.

Responsibility for the 12 F-35 Sustainment Elements



Why GAO Did This Study

The F-35 aircraft, with its advanced capabilities, represents a growing portion of DOD's tactical aviation fleet—with about 450 of the aircraft fielded. DOD plans to procure nearly 2,500 F-35s at an estimated life cycle cost of the program exceeding $1.7 trillion. Of this amount, $1.3 trillion are associated with operating and sustaining the aircraft.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 included a provision for GAO to review F-35 sustainment efforts. This report, among other things, assesses the extent to which (1) challenges exist with F-35 depot and organizational-level maintenance, and (2) DOD has determined its desired mix of government and contractor sustainment support for the future.

GAO reviewed F-35 program documentation, reviewed readiness and performance data, visited two F-35 depots and three operational installations, conducted a survey of all 15 F-35 installations, and interviewed officials.

Recommendations

GAO is making seven recommendations to DOD, including reassessing F-35 sustainment elements to determine government and contractor responsibility and any required technical data, and making final decisions on changes to F-35 sustainment to address performance and affordability. DOD concurred with all of GAO's recommendations.



Recommendations for Executive Action

TOO MUCH TO POST see above link or full report @ https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-105341.pdf

[u crank]

Oh my.

Sen. Bob Menendez and wife indicted on bribery charges; DOJ seizes gold bars and $500,000

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/22/polit...ges/index.html

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was charged on Friday with corruption-related offenses for the second time in 10 years.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence, according to the newly unsealed federal indictment.

[Buddahaid]

Good.

[em2nought]

Token sacrifice.

[Rockstar]

So Chicago wants to run it's own grocery stores to replace the private ones fleeing the city due to predatory city government, collapsing social order, and industrial-scale shoplifting.

It’s worth noting the Soviets tried this and got food shortages. And they put shoplifters in the gulag.

Chicago already has failing schools, failing health-care, and of course failing public safety.

It could get a lot harder to find food in the city. True you can always Uber Eats, at least until the drivers get robbed enough times.

In theory, at some point the voters rebel. But in many once-great American cities now turned into freeloading liberal socialist democrat crime ridden waste lands they missed their chance.

Now any remaining grocery stores will be competing against the government, so what is their incentive to stay? What is the incentive for any others to ever return to the Chicago market if they are competing against the city, which doesn't care about making a profit because they use federal and state (“not local”) tax dollars to operate?

I am going to go out on a limb here and predict that this will be a massive failure and make the issues worse.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Catfish

re the F-35

Heard this theory from a friend:
"It is easy, Macron had proposed to build a new european plane together, also to develop other weapons together in Europe in the light of the early russian invasion last year, instead of buying from the US (with the dependencies on maintenance, goodwill and the very real option to them being shut off via remote). He had also proposed to sell french high tech military stuff to other european nations, and it would have been a lot better than what comes from the US, or most european nations.

Of course the US was not so amused losing trade partners, so they successfully tried to undermine that, and also to teach Macron a lesson they threw the french out of Nigeria supporting another of all those military coups, with the side effect of getting cheap resources. France has not even an embassy there anymore, the US of course has."

Made me think
High time Europe wakes up, but with the polish PIS party, french LePen and italian Meloni it looks like the US was successful once more. Not in open war, but in all what counts behind the curtains

You know that the German French tank project is in the process of stalling, the French European fighter jet project is stalling, and France does not want a strong Europe, it wants a strong France dominating Europe. Also, French military equipment gets delayed and delayed and delayed, which is one of the issues why the Australians gave them the boot.

Do not trust France.
Do not trust Germany.
Trust nobody.

Best would be you woudln't even be there.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by em2nought

Token sacrifice.

Senator Menendez defended himself in a lengthy statement Friday after the charges were made public, denying the allegations as "baseless" and accusing prosecutors in the Southern District of New York of overreaching.

Now where have I heard that before?

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Skybird

You know that the German French tank project is in the process of stalling, the French European fighter jet project is stalling, and France does not want a strong Europe, it wants a strong France dominating Europe.

You cannot blame other countries just because ours is too dumb to do what should be done..
This stalling of weapons and delivery has reasons, and it is not far-fetched to think they are transcontinental. "Peaceful hegemony" of weapon deliveries and all that

[mapuc]

Some is saying the Democrats is destroying the country, while others say the Republican is destroying the country.

To be honest is it so terrible in God's own country that it has turned into a banana republic ?

If the country is being slowly destroyed-Isn't it both party who should be blamed ?

Markus

[Jeff-Groves]

It IS both Parties Markus!
Then again it's the idiots VOTING the Crooks into Office!

So the Idiots keep believing the Crooks. They lie, get elected, and nothing gets done. Rinse and repeat for YEARS!

All the while those Crooks grow richer as the USA peoples grow poorer.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by mapuc

If the country is being slowly destroyed-Isn't it both party who should be blamed ?

In this case, absolutely.

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by em2nought

Token sacrifice.

It should have happened in 2015 but the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of public corruption over the McDonnell case in 2016 and then Jack Smith's conviction of Melendez was overturned.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme...rruption-case/

[Jeff-Groves]

Several of the justices had said that McDonnell's actions were merely an example of politics as usual: that politicians have always helped out supporters and constituents by reaching out to government officials on their behalf, setting up meetings or putting in a good word.

Yep. Not a damned thing wrong with that is there?

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

Several of the justices had said that McDonnell's actions were merely an example of politics as usual: that politicians have always helped out supporters and constituents by reaching out to government officials on their behalf, setting up meetings or putting in a good word.

Yep. Not a damned thing wrong with that is there?

I'm betting one was Clarence Thomas?

[Jeff-Groves]

Regardless who the Judges were?
You don't see a problem with that kind of thinking?