DOD Inspector General finds $900 million stockpile of Stryker parts

[unhappycamper]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/31/187297/dod-inspector-general-finds-900.html



A U.S. Stryker vehicle rolls down a farm road near Khan Bani Sa'ad Iraq on March 1, 2008.

DOD Inspector General finds $900 million stockpile of Stryker parts
Adam Ashton | Tacoma News Tribune
Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Army program charged with keeping thousands of eight-wheeled Strykers running over the past decade had its eye so much on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that it neglected to keep its books.

It accumulated nearly $900 million worth of Stryker replacement parts - most of them in an Auburn warehouse - with much of the gear becoming outdated even as the military continued to order more equipment, according to a Defense Department Inspector General report released late last year.

~snip~

Or, the 9,179 small replacement gears called pinions the Army bought as a temporary fix for a Stryker suspension problem that surfaced between 2007 and 2009. The Army took care of the root malfunction in 2010, but kept buying pinions.

It needed only 15 of the gears. The 9,164 extra pinions are worth $572,000, the Inspector General reported.



unhappycamper comment: This is the 21st century version of a $600 hammer.

No worries. The DOW is attempting to open an RFP for their new $250 grand Ground Combat Vehicle.

[liberal N proud]

1. Well, you never know when all the stryker vehicles will need parts at one time

Besides, the contractor (General Dynamics) needs to keep people busy, in Canada where the vehicles are manufactured.

[Sherman A1]

2. Thanks for Posting

It would be nice if that money could have been used for anything remotely worthwhile....

[Ford_Prefect]

3. Not to mention the raw materials, energy, and build time wasted in making, storing, and

presumably disposing of the useless items.

[JHB]

5. But not spending that money would would be weakening our national defense!

Real True Patriots (tm) measure defense by the size of the DOD budget. Efficiency is weakness, my friend.

And a for clarity, in these parody-proof times.

[modrepub]

4. Correct Me If I'm Wrong

but I think the Defense Department is the only federal agency not to use standard accounting practices, which are designed to uncover questionable activities.

[The Wizard]

6. How much did defense contractors

send to Cayman Islands accounts belonging to law makers?

[Historic NY]

7. Lets start by deducting these overages from their budget........

and firing the bean counters for not doing their jobs.

[valerief]

8. But that's what war is for. To make rich people richer by making unnecessary things. nt

[Victor_c3]

9. Hey! KBS (Khan Bani Sa'ad) was my old stomping ground!

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the caption under the picture). I spent a lot of time in and around that town in 2004.

[unhappycamper]

11. That looks like a lovely neighborhood.

We were only a few miles from the Iron Triangle in my war.

[zipplewrath]

10. Left hand, right hand

They keep saying "the army", but the reality is that one group of people order the extra parts and arrange for repairs, another group of people come up with the solution to the root malfunction. Unfortunately, the first group has little knowledge of the second group, and they just keep doing what they're doing until told to stop. Problem is, the office that's suppose to tell them to stop is handling a few billion dollars worth of activitey, and a 572K part doesn't get alot of attention. Of course, as these small items add up, pretty soon; "You're talking real money">.