Monday, April 14, 2008

What outsourcing can get you....

No quality control = death.
Inside the Air Force reported in late March on a problem vexing the U.S. military -- fake parts showing up in depots and finding their way into Air Force and Navy aircraft.

An unknown number of counterfeit aircraft parts are being fastened into U.S. military weapon systems after infiltrating supply depots, posing new safety risks and potentially driving up maintenance bills by hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to Pentagon officials.

This practice is an unintended consequence of two converging trends: globalization and Defense Department acquisition policies instituted in the 1990s that encourage use of commercial-off-the-shelf technology, according to Robert Ernst, head of aging aircraft studies for the Navy.

Nice. You don't go to war with the military you have, you sabotage it at every turn with defense contractors who sell cheap copies and overcharge. In for a penny, in for as much loot as you can carry away.

No wonder they want this war to be eternal.

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