What Is SBIRS Point Of No Return?

It’s been said that human beings are the only creatures capable of deceiving themselves.

If you agree with that, you may also agree to the human tendency to keep throwing good money after bad product, that is, it’s tough to know just when to cut your losses and walk away. The Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program comes to mind as the poster-child for space acquisition. SBIRS is almost eight years behind schedule and $8 billion over original budget.

The Army Builds a B-52

Sorry that the link is fee-for-service...but here's my take.

Defense Daily reports Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli is advocating for "platforms that are versatile in complex environments, leverage the power of the network and give crews confidence by surviving that first strike."

Chiarelli goes on to say "Technology is changing too fast to allow new starts to take 10 to 15 years to get into the hands of the soldiers. We must build a platform that can be adapted over time to accommodate future technological innovation."

Sounds like the Army's ground-based version of the B-52 to me. According to Wiki, the Buff first flew in '52.

Will The F-22 Destroy The USAF?

R. Jeffrey Smith's WaPo article has so much that should be discussed. Here are a few things that come to mind:

• F-22 maintenance costs per flying hour are about 150% of the F-15. Ok, but is the F-22 twice again as good? That is, if we only need half as many F-22s, that would make it a bargain, right?


• Most importantly, will the plane's massive cost preempt most other USAF modernization, driving the Air Force towards long-term obsolescence? Will this create what former Pentagon tester Thomas Christie characterises as "unilateral disarmament"?


• The prime, Lockheed, farmed out over 1,000 subcontracts to vendors in more than 40 states. Everyone can feed at the F-22 trough and cancellation becomes much more difficult.


• Former OSD Comptroller John Hamre says the F-22 program was approved despite the fact it was underfunded. Telling Congress what the real costs were would have been politically unpalatable.


• One unnamed DoD official says its a disgrace the F-22 can only fly 1.7 hours on average before it has a critical failure. I'm thinking that official is one of the folks who supports capping the program at 187 planes.

In many ways the F-22 is emblematic of almost all our space systems. It has the characteristics of an exquisite system that make it difficult to design, engineer, build, and employ.