It isn't sexy; I know. It isn't as "fun" as talking about how unbuilt and untested platforms integrated through a unfunded and nondeployed "network" will "transform" all war in to rainbows and unicorns; I know.
Imagine if even a small percentage of what the dreamers and social planners bleed off the main funding line was diverted to making sure we get just a little better, just a little, on the fundamentals. You know, stuff like rust.
The total cost of corrosion for DoD is $22.5 billion, with $20.9 billion derived from maintenance records from the military services’ various databases and $1.6 billion from sources outside normal reporting.Dig in to the report in detail. Most of this is not Navy and as a matter of fact it appears that the Navy shipbuilding data is incomplete vs. the other services and warfare areas. Who knows - maybe we have classified rust as well.
We estimated corrosion as a percentage of maintenance for DoD to be 23.0 percent. This includes both infrastructure and facilities (15.1 percent) and weapon systems/equipment (24.0 percent). The corrosion cost for infrastructure and facilities is $1.8 billion, while the corrosion cost for weapon systems and equipment is $20.7 billion.
BTW - that is 2009 data. Just due to rust - an amount right between the total defense budgets of Canada and Turkey.
