Gannett News Service August 14, 2006
Weapon makers rewarded despite soaring costs
WASHINGTON -- The defense contractors that make high-tech weapons are busting budgets, blowing delivery deadlines or both on dozens of major systems, and yet many have received bonuses meant to encourage excellence.
The Pentagon has been paying billions of dollars in performance bonuses on weapons projects, some as much as 50 percent or more over initial estimates and several years late.
Five years ago, the Pentagon's top five weapons systems were estimated to cost $291 billion; today the estimate is $550 billion.
The F-22 Raptor fighter has become the poster child for problems with the Pentagon's major weapons. The cost per plane has risen 189 percent from $125 million to $361 million, including research and development, while the development time has increased by more than two years. Despite that, the Pentagon has paid $848 million in bonuses, called "award fees," to the lead systems contractor.
A study released in April of 23 major weapons systems by the Government Accountability Office found $23 billion in cost overruns and development delays of at least a year.
Soaring weapons budgets are nothing new at the Pentagon. But they're reaching worrisome new heights, defense experts and concerned lawmakers say. Coupled with crippling war costs, they could hit taxpayers especially hard by putting budget pressure on social and other programs. New weapons, among the most expensive purchases by the federal government, are scheduled to cost at least $1.4 trillion from now to 2009, double the spending rate before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
A growing chorus of defense experts and lawmakers say it's time to reform the weapons procurement system by capping contracts and prioritizing the needs of the military, now top heavy with high-tech weapons while fighting door-to-door in Iraq.
"There is a fundamental lack of candor in the way people talk about big weapons procurement these days," said John Pike, a weapons expert with GlobalSecurity.org, a widely cited Web site that tracks military and security issues and hardware. "We've lost the reality basis from which to see how much these things are going to cost."
© Copyright 2006, Gannett News Service
