Monday, January 06, 2014

How to know you've lost the procurement bubble

If there was anything tailor-made for a show Congressional hearing, this would be it;
The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern about China's espionage and military buildup.
According to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters, chief U.S. arms buyer Frank Kendall allowed two F-35 suppliers, Northrop Grumman Corp and Honeywell International Inc, to use Chinese magnets for the new warplane's radar system, landing gears and other hardware. Without the waivers, both companies could have faced sanctions for violating federal law and the F-35 program could have faced further delays.
"It was a pretty big deal and an unusual situation because there's a prohibition on doing defense work in China, even if it's inadvertent," said Frank Kenlon, who recently retired as a senior Pentagon procurement official and now teaches at American University. "I'd never seen this happen before."
If as described, this goes in the same bucket as Loral Aerospace selling it soul in the 1990s.

We need names, and shortly thereafter heads on pikes outside The Pentagon as an example to others.

Even outside the potential national security issues, there is the whole industrial base argument. We cannot complain that we don't have the ability to make things in the USA on one hand, and then with the other pay bottom dollar to have it made offshore.

For something as short sighted as trying to avoid missing a deadline, one would open the door to a potential opponent.

Yea ... someone needs to be fired.

1 comment:

Scott CP said...

As a North Dakotan that sounds about right. State motto: "Live Free or Die in a Blizzard."