Shyu goes on to state that the Army’s manufacturing facilities were actually in a “death spiral.”
Research and Development and acquisition accounts have declined twice the Army top budget over the past few years. The Army now has the smallest budget of all armed forces.
Obama is also reducing the amount of soldiers serving in the Army as well, seeking to shrink it to pre-WWII levels, according to the New York Times.
If it’s not obvious to you that Obama is intent on destroying this country you have your head in the sand. Part of such a plan would of course include reducing our fighting force.
Later, she said that the Army-owned manufacturing facilities were in a “death spiral.” R&D and acquisition accounts have dropped twice as fast as the Army top line budget over the past three years, she added. Parsing out the design and development accounts, the Army’s is now has the smallest budget of all the armed services.
“That is very disconcerting for our future,” she said on Oct 15.
Overall budget reductions, last year’s government shutdown, and furloughs of the civilian workforce, have all taken their tolls, she said.
Budget cuts do not equate to less work. They equate to more work as programs are strung out, Shyu said.
That means more contracts have to be issued. Meanwhile, the vital contracting workforce is being “slashed and burned,” she said. One-third the budget does not mean the Army needs one-third the number of personnel to carry out the acquisition duties, she added.
With the possible return of sequestration in 2016, the Army might be writing two budgets.
“It creates an enormous amount of additional work and churn on all the folks that we have in the acquisition workforce,” she said.
The furloughs had an “incredible impact on the civilian workforce’s morale,” she said. The attrition rate is increasing. “We are starting to lose people we don’t want to lose.”
As acquisition programs are stretched out, it causes more inefficiencies, Shyu noted. Purchasing items in smaller quantities equates to higher costs as opposed to buying in bulk. “It’s not better buying power. It’s much worse,” she said, referring to the Defense Department’s Better Buying Power 3.0 initiative.
The Army acquisition enterprise is being asked to deliver systems the Army needs but can’t currently do so in a timely manner, she said.
Because workloads are going down substantially in the organic industrial base — manufacturing carried out by government-owned plants — the rates the Army must pay are going up, she said. That results in fewer items that can be purchased.
“This is a death spiral that we’re in,” Shyu added.
Crickets?
Part of his big plan. Wake up America rise up against this traitor and dictator