You would think you almost read my mind, I think what you referred to about the
USA OOB was our shared
ABRAMS NIGHTMARE (Along with a lot of legacy equipment from before Andy and Don took over the game as well., and for what's worth in hindsight for me at least, we are better for it, however
I certainly wouldn't want to repeat it.
Wars are never fully included in military budgets they cover costs such as retirements and health care which
ALMOST ACCOUNTS FOR AROUND
25 -30% OF OUR DEFENSE BUDGET alone and my pay to 
.
https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/fi...taryComp_0.pdf
https://crsreports.congress.gov/prod...f/IF/IF11856/1
Some people wish to complain about some
NATO countries percent of
GDP going to Defense spending if you look at the bottom graph and
for now, understand that the U.S. has the largest economy in the world, dollar wise
yes by far we spend the most.
But by
GDP which is the international standard for determine the "
economic power" for a country, most
NATO countries
aren't really that far off the mark from us by percentage.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countrie...defense-budget
So now Russia has a war, its economy has been
severely reduced by sanctions which by about two weeks ago have really started to take hold with more applied since.
So going back to the bottom chart right side from
1960-2019 look at our
%GDP for defense and take into account the
Cold War (through 1998.), Vietnam, Iraqi & Afghanistan Wars and smaller ops that caused a "blip on the radar" such as Grenada and Panama.
And also recognize,
we didn't have any sanctions on us.
So yes,
I strongly concur with the "
push back" on that Russian equipment they've all suffered from cost over runs (And we know there's
no corruption over there.), ongoing technical difficulties etc. etc. This almost makes me to go back and find out how long ago I posted about the "
BOOMERANG" that actually was
cancelled at least once.
Modern warfare is
more expensive now than at any time in our history (
Manhattan Project aside based on
today's dollars.)
Projects suffer and those projects definitely have.
And finally, because
I know someone will say something, this isn't about
picking on Russia and it will obviously show you haven't really read some of my stuff,
which is perfectly fine, but I'll leave with just one
USA project (
Don don't get upset-just making a point!) the
F-35A/C and finally from my favorite other two countries
Turkey ALTAY & India ARGUN Mk II just for good measure.
For those that celebrate it
Happy Easter!
Regards,
Pat
