this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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United States | News & Politics
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Those weapons systems aren't being bought because they're needed or work well.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/12/18/congress-again-buys-abrams-tanks-the-army-doesnt-want.html
The US military is a jobs program.
I ran across some of the most incompetent, idiots in the military. They kept re-enlisting every four years because they wouldn't make it on the outside. The problem was they had been in long enough to hold the middle ranks.
They're not talking about the military, they're talking about tank production and the reasoning behind keeping the factories open and running.
Exactly the point.
The reason they’re continuing to buy them is that the assembly line needs to maintain a minimum level of production, otherwise all the staff and expertise and tooling and machinery goes away. And then whenever they are actually needed, it becomes impossible to scale up, because everyone who knows how to make the fucking things has gotten another job or retired.
It’s not plug-and-play. It’s frustrating, and yes, wasteful, but if you actually do give a shit about defense policy, there is a specific logistical reason for why this is done.
If you read that article, that point was made.
And they said, you could maintain the minimum level of production by foreign owners alone.
Foreign buyers… who very well may pivot to alternative platforms now that we’re being a dick to pretty much everybody except Hungary.
Yeah... now...
I'm in one of those countries that you're being a dick to.
This is an issue going back at least 2 decades. Probably more. That's just when I became aware of it.
The Abrams works unreasonably well against other tanks. There is a question about how any tank stands up to drones, though.
The point is not whether it's good or not. The Army told the govenrment multiple times, they don't need them and they are being wasted.