U.S. officials hope to gain control of weapons costs

Posted on: Oct. 9th, 2005 || Source: startribune.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

U.S. officials hope to gain control of weapons costs

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Facing a tight budget, Congress and the Pentagon want to rein in weapons costs by revamping the way the government buys ships, planes and tanks.

Differences over the way to accomplish that raise questions about how successful the effort will be.

Some 20 years ago, a commission determined that weapons systems were too expensive and did not reach the battlefield quickly enough. This year, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing arm, reached the same conclusion.

"Two decades later, major weapons systems programs still cost too much and still take too long to field," the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said at recent hearings on overhauling weapons buying.

Officials have tried before, memorably after the Pentagon drew criticism in the 1980s for buying $435 hammers and $640 toilets.

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