In the United States, the problem of the cost of various components and weapons in general has been brewing for more than a year ultimately, U.S. Army Secretary Den Driscoll made quite loud accusations against defense giants, stating that large defense industry companies are deceiving the service into purchasing expensive equipment when significantly cheaper alternatives exist.
Reuters writes about this directly emphasizing that Driscoll's statements were quite sharp (one could even say "Trump-style") for his position but nonetheless quite fair, especially since he separately notes the government's fault in the current situation.
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"[The entire] defense industrial base and prime contractors in particular have been deceiving the American people, the Pentagon and the Army," the secretary stated. "The system has changed. You will no longer be allowed to do this to the United States Army."
Judging by everything, his accusations relate both to entire projects in general and to some specific nuances for example, the U.S. previously complained that the Department of War purchases hammers for as much as $48 per unit, when on the commercial market they cost only $9.
And recently it became known about an even more fantastic price for a Black Hawk helicopter screen control knob despite the fact that it can supposedly be made for only $15, it costs American taxpayers a cosmic $47,000 over 3,130 times (!) more expensive.
And we're talking about small details, whereas in general the U.S. faces the problem of large-scale projects such as the unrealistic super long-range cannon at 2,000 km, which was abandoned in 2022.
Or a recent example the M10 Booker tank, which was abandoned after spending almost $2 billion and 10 years on the project, and now theyre thinking about what to do with the unnecessary machines.
So, as noted, today the Army is launching an initiative to optimize the procurement process, the goal of which, among other things, will be a gradual move away from purchasing specialized equipment if the same analogues exist on the civilian market at significantly lower prices.
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