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HughPickens.com [hughpickens.com] writes:

U.S. military spending is out of control. The Defense Department budget for 2016 is $573 billion. President Barack Obama’s 2017 proposal ups it to $582 billion. By comparison, China spent around $145 billion and Russia around $40 billion in 2015. Now Matthew Gault writes at Reuters that in speech after speech, Donald Trump has called out politicians and defense contractors for colluding to build costly weapons systems at the price of national security [reuters.com]. As Trump has pointed out many times, Washington can build and maintain an amazing military arsenal for a fraction of what it’s paying now. He’s also right about one of the causes of the bloated budget: expensive prestige weapons systems such as the Littoral Combat Ship, beset by significant flaws and questions of reliability [thedailybeast.com], and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. “I hear stories,” says Trump, “like they’re ordering missiles they don’t want because of politics, because of special interests, because the company that makes the missiles is a contributor.”

The much-maligned F-35 will cost at least $1.5 trillion during the 55 years that its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, expects it to be flying. That number is up $500 billion from the original high estimate. But with a long list of problems plaguing the stealth fighter [dailymail.co.uk], that price will most likely grow. Trump has called out the trouble-ridden F-35. “[Test pilots are] saying it doesn’t perform as well as our existing equipment, which is much less expensive,” says Trump. “So when I hear that, immediately I say we have to do something, because you know, they’re spending billions.” Like so many Trump plans, the specifics are hazy. But according to Gault on this issue, Trump’s got the right idea. "Donald Trump could be the only presidential candidate talking sense about for the American military’s budget [reason.com]. That should scare everyone."

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