Pentagon's "Terribly Broken" System

The Military's procurement is in trouble, says the Hill. If you ask me, its headed for catastrophie:

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has warned Pentagon officials that inefficient weapons-buying practices would lead to serious vulnerabilities in national security.The Pentagon's ability to maintain a proficient acquisition system is "going to be increasingly difficult," Hunter said...

In the past five years, the Pentagon has doubled its planned investments in new weapons from about $700 billion in 2001 to nearly $1.4 trillion in 2006, according to the GAO. Despite doubling the investment, the Pentagon did not improve its management of those contracts, Walker said.

The delays and cost increases have led the DoD to cut back on quantities and capabilities, he added. The Air Force's Joint Strike Fighter went from an estimated cost of $189.8 billion for 2,866 aircraft to $206.3 billion for more than 400 fewer aircraft.
The Army's Future Combat Systems went from an estimated $82.6 billion to $127.5 billion. The F-22 Raptor went from $81.1 billion for 648 aircraft to $64.4 billion for only 181 jets. The cost per airplane went up by 188 percent, according to the GAO.

Simple solution, design and buy cheaper weapons that are "good enough", such as off-the-shelf, and can be in the hands of the troops during mine and your lifetime.