16 March 2013

I Worked There for 2 Years

It looks like the Pentagon will shutter down BAE's plant in York Pennsylvania for 2 years:
A contentious political battle erupted last year when the Army opted to end production of the Abrams tank. Now the Army faces a repeat, this time, over the Bradley.

The manufacturer of the Army’s Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, BAE Systems, is seeking to persuade the service to reverse a decision to stop work at the company’s assembly line in York, Penn., for three years beginning in 2014.

BAE executives are pleading the case that is often made in these situations: It would be more costly to the government to shut down and reopen the line three years later than it would be to keep it open, even with a reduced workload. Army officials defend their decision as a necessary move to cut costs in the face of declining budgets. They also contend that closing down the BAE plant temporarily should not cause any risk to the force, as the Army owns a large fleet of more than 3,000 Bradleys, most of which have low mileage and have been updated with new weapons and electronics.
What is particularly notable is this map that they included with the story.  It's a list of where their subcontractors are located:



Seriously, the overpriced stuff that we buy for our military would not be so f%$#ing  overpriced if defense contractors did not play "paint by numbers" with states and Congressional districts to game our politica system.

I'm not sure how to fix this, but this sh%$ needs to end.

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