From: Steve Grammont (islander@midmaine.com)
Date: Thu Jun 19 2003 - 07:39:23 PDT
>The Sherman continued to develop into the Abrahms so why not the Mules and
>the Mutts, I guess that was my query.
Cost is most likely the primary reason. If the military can purchase 2
to 3 commercial vehicles *now* for every 1 (often overly complex, flawed)
purpose built vehicle... well... the choice is pretty clear.
I remember for Gulf War 1 a unit in Texas went and bought a truckload of
small laptop devices (not full laptop computers) for doing fire control
calculations or something similar. When asked why they did this they
said somethng like "we are only allowed to have x number of the official
issue, which is really nothing more than a souped up version of the ones
we just bought. But despite being rated to work in all conditions they
do in fact break. Then we are SOL because it takes forever to get a
replacement, even when on base, not to mention out in the middle of a
desert 1/2 way around the world. So, instead we are buying all these
commercial units, of which we can buy 10 for every 1 of the official
issue (NOTE, I am sure that it was a 10:1 ratio he mentioned!). Then
when one breaks, and it will, we will just chuck it aside and pull
another one off the shelf. We will be back up and running in seconds
instead of perhaps days. We figure this supply will be enough to
comfortably get us through to the end."
The military is once again learning that off the shelf stuff can be more
cost effective than purpose built AT THE VERY LEAST. Sometimes it can
even be superior in terms of performance, perhaps with a little retrofitting.
As a US taxpayer I am VERY happy with this. I want my military to have
the best stuff, but price must be considered. That is reality. So why
not save on things which can be purchased in the open market and save up
all to spend on the things that can't be (like tanks, attack aircraft,
aircraft carriers, etc.)? It seems the sensible thing to do.
Steve
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