US Navy pulls parts off an under-construction aircraft carrier to get USS Gerald R. Ford ready to deploy

[Oozlefinch]

Railgun R&D is on hold while they work out issues with barrel wear and the like and work on conventional hypersonic guns, but it will be started up again soon as I understand it.

Actually, it is more that the Navy is finally realizing that the system will never work as many believed, and the use of it would be so limited that it largely became pointless.

After all, it is a direct fire weapon. And when was the last time the Navy had to lay direct fire against anything?

 

[Dayton3]

Whatever the military’s problems are, they certainly cannot be blamed on a lack of spending……the money is going somewhere!

Most of the military budget goes to personnel and operations (fuel and maintenance). Only a relatively small portion is spent on equipment.

 

[Dayton3]

During the air strikes on Serbia during the 1990s the USAF was able to keep a group of 5 B-1Bs at nearly unprecedented levels of readiness.

How did they do it?

They flew a sixth B-1B to the base used by the other B-1Bs and used it as a parts source to cannibalize for the B-1s designated for strike missions.

 

[Rexedgar]

Most of the military budget goes to personnel and operations (fuel and maintenance). Only a relatively small portion is spent on equipment.

“relatively small” is relative.

Procurement of weapons and systems cost $139 billion in 2020 and nearly $100 billion was spent on research and development of weapons and equipment.

Who was it that diverted money from Defense for the Mexican wall?

 

[Oozlefinch]

Procurement of weapons and systems cost $139 billion in 2020 and nearly $100 billion was spent on research and development of weapons and equipment.

Who was it that diverted money from Defense for the Mexican wall?

Oh yes. Around $125 million of that was for new equipment for my last unit. A Combat Support Hospital.

And no money was really "diverted". I know a lot of people screamed and yelled, but what was authorized was the release of funds for construction projects that had been authorized, but not started yet for one reason or another. It was the kind of shell game the government does all the time. Kind of like several decades ago when they moved one of our paydays a few days, moving it into another fiscal year.

 

[Rexedgar]

Oh yes. Around $125 million of that was for new equipment for my last unit. A Combat Support Hospital.

And no money was really "diverted". I know a lot of people screamed and yelled, but what was authorized was the release of funds for construction projects that had been authorized, but not started yet for one reason or another. It was the kind of shell game the government does all the time. Kind of like several decades ago when they moved one of our paydays a few days, moving it into another fiscal year.

“All I know is what I read in the paper.“. - I think that a Will Rogers quote.

Trump Administration Diverts $3.8 Billion In Pentagon Funding To Border Wall

In a notice sent to Congress Thursday, the Pentagon said it is shifting billions from fighter jets and other weapons to help pay for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

www.npr.org

When I was in, the fiscal year ended in late summer or early fall. Every year the brass came around and said order anything that you need or don’t need, because there was still money in the budget from last year that had not been spent. Don’t spend it, lose it in the next budget. This was almost 50 years ago. I don’t get the impression that much has changed.

 

[Oozlefinch]

When I was in, the fiscal year ended in late summer or early fall. Every year the brass came around and said order anything that you need or don’t need, because there was still money in the budget from last year that had not been spent. Don’t spend it, lose it in the next budget. This was almost 50 years ago. I don’t get the impression that much has changed.

It's still October. And I want to say it was in the late 1980's that military payday changed from the 15th and 30th, to the 1st and 15th. That was simply so they could move payday from one fiscal year to another for budget reasons.

And that "spend it or lose it" is common in almost any organization. Which is why if expenses were higher than expected, training may grind to a halt in around August, or you might see a flurry of training going on in September as units try to use up the last of the training money before the fiscal year ends.

And when I was in Maintenance, it was the same way. Around September we would get the expected excess, and start ordering a great many things we wanted but could not always justify. I was famous each year for ordering the 90 degree angle front sling keepers for every M203 in the Battalion. I knew we would never get them, but it went on the books as a negative, and it was an easy way to shovel several thousand dollars into "holding" for about 3 months. At which point we would get the notice that they were not available, and the money returned to our spending pool.

 

[Rexedgar]

It's still October. And I want to say it was in the late 1980's that military payday changed from the 15th and 30th, to the 1st and 15th. That was simply so they could move payday from one fiscal year to another for budget reasons.

And that "spend it or lose it" is common in almost any organization. Which is why if expenses were higher than expected, training may grind to a halt in around August, or you might see a flurry of training going on in September as units try to use up the last of the training money before the fiscal year ends.

And when I was in Maintenance, it was the same way. Around September we would get the expected excess, and start ordering a great many things we wanted but could not always justify. I was famous each year for ordering the 90 degree angle front sling keepers for every M203 in the Battalion. I knew we would never get them, but it went on the books as a negative, and it was an easy way to shovel several thousand dollars into "holding" for about 3 months. At which point we would get the notice that they were not available, and the money returned to our spending pool.

<snip>

There was another instance that I remember. I needed a 1/4” drive socket set to something or another. I don’t remember who I borrowed it from, maybe the commo shack. It was pure junk! The socket broke with very little force. I remember reading about the Civil War as a boy. There was a story about sutlers selling spoiled meat to the army.

The best thing about my TA-50 is my M-65, one each, cap, insulating, helmet liner, almost fifty years and I still wear it! Yeah, I took it with me………

 

[Oozlefinch]

Oh, and those sling keepers were not the only item I did this with. Each of the major sections had something similar they did with their excess funds.

For the Motor Pool, it was ordering new fording kits for every HMMWV in the inventory. Once again, funds removed, several months of memos back and forth, then around December being told that replacing all of the fording kits was not needed and the funds being returned.

For the field mess section, it was normally utensils. Some we would get, about half we would not and get that returned.

For the Commo section, I want to say it was every year ordering rechargeable batteries and chargers for the PRC-77 radios. Those were normally denied because that was already scheduled for replacement, and we were told to just keep using up the excess stocks of standard batteries. But once again, let us shovel a lot of money into the next fiscal year.

Yes, there is very much a "use it or lose it" attitude, but those of us that knew the system and how it worked could use it to our advantage, and not "really use it". We simply made it look like we used it. Mostly by ordering things we knew we would never get.

Although I have also seen that backfire. One Company level Maintenance Clerk I told this trick to decided to get the bright idea of using his remaining funds to order three depot level rebuilt M2 machine guns. Then two months later had to go to the Battalion Commander and explain why there were three .50 cals waiting for pickup at the base ordinance depot. A lot of things can get the run-around, but when an Infantry Battalion says they need new machine guns (especially in the months prior to deployment for the Gulf War), they get them.

 

[Oozlefinch]

There was another instance that I remember. I needed a 1/4” drive socket set to something or another. I don’t remember who I borrowed it from, maybe the commo shack. It was pure junk! The socket broke with very little force. I remember reading about the Civil War as a boy. There was a story about sutlers selling spoiled meat to the army.

Actually, my experience with most military tools is that they were of excellent quality. However, if you look in most toolboxes you will find "replacement" items. They lose something or want to take it home, and go to Harbor Freight or some other cheap store for replacements.

And I had a partner that did that. All of our launchers came with a very expensive torque wrench, and if checking the parts in a launcher it was not unusual to see half of them were the $300 wrenches that came with the launcher. And the other half were very cheap ones bought for $50. And I know if something of my tool kit was missing, I replaced it the same way.

 

[Rexedgar]

@Oozlefinch

Prick-77?

That was one of out primary radios in the early 1970s!

 

[Oozlefinch]

@Oozlefinch

Prick-77?

That was one of out primary radios in the early 1970s!

And by the early 1990's was being phased out in favor of the SINCGARS radio.

SO now telling the new boot in the unit to go to Commo and get a "Prick E-6" means nothing to them.

 

[fortune]

I do not know enough to say about the nose gear fatigue with the new magnetic cats, but it seems unlikely it would be a problem. As I understand it, they are actually able to more greatly control the force of the shuttle when they launch, and vary it in the launch process, which I would think would reduce stress.

EM tailhooks, if they ever happen, would be way off in the future. I just do not see how they could make that work. On the other hand, speaking of EM, I do know that railguns are going to be a part of navy ships sooner rather than later.

It may be later. There was a quoted artical some time ago about how the rail gun is tearing itself up with every shot... something about "the missing joules" (a joke title)

 

[roguenuke]

US Navy pulls parts off an under-construction aircraft carrier to get USS Gerald R. Ford ready to deploy




It seems the supply-chain problems affecting the US private sector are also challenging the US military in certain areas.

So this actually isn't that uncommon, especially when speaking about larger pieces of equipment.

For example, my ship had an incident where one of the shafts broke while underway around 1998-2000. They pulled the shaft from the USS Forrestal and put it on our carrier. While yes, that was a decommed ship, it still shows that sometimes such things are needed and they have happened in the past.

 

[roguenuke]

Actually, my experience with most military tools is that they were of excellent quality. However, if you look in most toolboxes you will find "replacement" items. They lose something or want to take it home, and go to Harbor Freight or some other cheap store for replacements.

And I had a partner that did that. All of our launchers came with a very expensive torque wrench, and if checking the parts in a launcher it was not unusual to see half of them were the $300 wrenches that came with the launcher. And the other half were very cheap ones bought for $50. And I know if something of my tool kit was missing, I replaced it the same way.

Our ship bought new HP air compressors and each came with its own metric toolset (which was good since we didn't have nearly as many metric tools as standard). We found out from the rep who came after we reported problems with the air compressors because we only got half those tool sets. The yard birds kept the other half after they installed them. The rep told us that each compressor though was supposed to have its own set of tools.

Those air compressors though were horrible because they definitely were not tested in the same conditions we operated them in. The rep insisted that we shouldn't have to do maintenance as often as we did. We couldn't keep them online if we didn't do it that often. Pretty sure he didn't understand that those spaces were constantly hot, humid, and saturated with oil and dust/dirt. We did not have air filters or air conditioning within those spaces.

 

[Peter]

Yet more reasons for the US military to produce their own weapons and equipment in house rather than buying them from civilian companies.

Who exactly do you think builds all the worlds weapons?
How would the US military build a carrier that requires tens of thousands of specialised components from companies all over the world?

 

[Questerr]

Who exactly do you think builds all the worlds weapons?
How would the US military build a carrier that requires tens of thousands of specialised components from companies all over the world?

By building its own factories to build those components at cost.

 

[Peter]

By building its own factories to build those components at cost.

You also have to buy the rights to build everything or do you think companies like BAE will just hand over all their IP?

 

[Questerr]

You also have to buy the rights to build everything or do you think companies like BAE will just hand over all their IP?

Much of that IP is classified by the US government. They are more than welcome to keep the IP and never be able to sell it without going to prison for violating the Espionage Act.

 

[Peter]

Much of that IP is classified by the US government. They are more than welcome to keep the IP and never be able to sell it without going to prison for violating the Espionage Act.

Many of the companies involved are from other countries like BAE which is British.
They make large parts of lots of different US weapon systems for the US and the rest of the world.
Why would a British company hand over IP for things designed and manufactured in the UK?

 

[roguenuke]

By building its own factories to build those components at cost.

And where exactly would they get the workers for these factories when the US government has enough trouble just keeping enough shipyard workers employed to install the equipment?

 

[Questerr]

Many of the companies involved are from other countries like BAE which is British.
They make large parts of lots of different US weapon systems for the US and the rest of the world.
Why would a British company hand over IP for things designed and manufactured in the UK?

Britain has an extradition treaty with the US. I hope the executives of BAE like spending time in US prisons if they want to use classified US information without authorization.

 

[Questerr]

And where exactly would they get the workers for these factories when the US government has enough trouble just keeping enough shipyard workers employed to install the equipment?

Well a large number of former contractors would suddenly find their contracts gone, so their employees would be laid off. That's a workforce.

 

[Peter]

Why would a new manufacturing facility set-up by I'm assuming the Defence Department be any better at manufacturing something than the companies who actually build the stuff?
Why would a DoD F-16 be better than one built by General Dynamics?

 

[Peter]

Britain has an extradition treaty with the US. I hope the executives of BAE like spending time in US prisons if they want to use classified US information without authorization.

That doesn't mean they can just demand IP any more than the UK can demand IP from the US.
The UK can also just cancel the treaty if the US starts acting like bullies and demanding commercially sensitive data.