If you didn't watch the video at the bottom, it's hilarious - in a most ironic and depressing way. That's precisely what happened to the Bradley, the Joint Strike Fighter, and numerous other military projects. It's almost as if they are politicians approving these things...

Well it's not like the tests are for anything important....

(And in case anyone couldn't tell that was sarcasm...) "The tests that are being skipped would evaluate the reliability of small motors designed to help keep rocket interceptors on course as they fly toward incoming warheads."

Skip the tests on the thrusters in order to save time? Didn't they watch "The Martian"?

A typical example of governmental incompetence. Instead of, "If it doesn't work, fix it" -- it becomes, "If id doesn't work, use it anyway."

This is not a new situation!
The government in literally every area is incompetent. As I have stated in the past every agency of government charged with developing anything will purposely screw up so they can get more money to correct the problem. Only they never do correct the problem because that would mean they don't get more money for that situation. It is a "merry" go round and they know it. There is a charade that takes place between the military in this situation and the congress investigating what the problem is. And that is how the US government works.

When I see reports such as this I remain hopeful that they are disinformation, intended for some other purpose than reassuring the American Public.

Perhaps you view this from the wrong perspective. The system works very well for those in power and profit from the industrial military complex. Viewed from this perspective, things are moving along very well. Ron Paul explains this very well in his book “Plowshares.”

Meh. The story is too one-sided. It sounds like a reliability issue. Instead of doing the hot-fire tests on the thrusters, what data did they present on the reliability of the thrusters that makes the testing unnecessary? The story should have presented that information if it was available. The basic question is how sure are you that the thrusters will fire? 90% sure? 99% sure? There is no such thing as 100% sure in reliability engineering. After all, you can't test a rocket for a terminally-guided impact weapon twice.

Military intelligence
- George Carlin

I was watching the movie clip I started to believe I was seeing the real meetings at the Pentagon. Then I thought about the recent launches of the newest Naval Fleet Vessels and the subsequent subsystem system failures.
It kind of reminds me of the intro to The Six Million Dollar series and how ludicrious the military leaders have become.
The armored fighting vehicles have become like the Scfi novels and video games featuring Battle Mechs with every concieveable offensive weapon mounted on them. This is absolutely crazy.

Having non-warfighters involved in equipment design, specification, development and procurement doesn't help much either. The pile of lily-livered civilians involved as spectators, incapable of making decisions is pathetic.

What do you mean?! We can't waste Federal
money on the military service! What about the
welfare state, which must be allowed to grow and
grow ad infinitum into the trillions and beyond?! How can you talk about such trivia as the defense of the nation and of the citizens?!

this reminds me of the "OSHA Cowboy" cartoon
from the seventies:::

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=o...

the process of DoD acquisition is amazing! -- j
.

I think we need to redefine what “treason” is. Endangering the US people deliberately should be in this definition.

Verification and Validation does not get officers promoted...

This mindless bureaucratic approach to military acquisition has been ingrained since at least the Civil War, so blaming any current or recent administration is out of place. The War Department resisted acquisition of multiple shot rifles until the Spanish American war, declaring it would only encourage "wasting ammunition." Smokeless powder weapons were also resisted, as the logisticians felt the loss of smoke for cover would leave riflemen exposed to enemy fire.

The U.S. Navy resisted acquisition of John Holland's submarine design, partly because they felt submarine warfare was sneaky and immoral. It took the Pearl Harbor disaster for the military to recognize that the aircraft carrier had taken the place of the battleship as the major striking force.

Lockheed was well on the way to developing a jet fighter in 1940, and was rebuffed because anything without propellers was suspect. Numerous weapon designs were miserable failures during the WW II conflict, but the cumbersome bureaucracy that was created lived on.

The F-111 Tri Service Fighter story is well known, rejected by the Navy and Marines, and a huge waste of resources. Only the Air Force use as light bomber kept the aircraft from being a complete failure.

So many other examples that it's an embarrassment. I tried as best I could to avoid implementing stupid decisions during my years in acquisition, but sometimes the bureaucracy wins, regardless of waste.

The video is awesome.

The Obama regime is contagious.