By John Soo
On the 29th of November,
the US Navy launched a new class of destroyer, the Zumwalt class. The lead ship
of the class of ships was the USS Zumwalt.
Displacing 14,564 tons of water at 600 feet long, this gargantuan ship costed
$7 billion when added with R&D costs.
According to CNN, “[The] Zumwalt is also stealthy, with concealed antennas and
an angular frame that makes it much less detectable to radar than are current
warships. It also packs a punch. Its “Advanced Gun System” fires warheads at a
range of about 63 miles with impeccable precision, three times farther than current destroyers can fire” in
addition to this, it has the electrical capabilities to possibly host the
current laser defense systems.
An issue arises with the purchase of this line of new
technology. Isn’t the United States already in debt? Why are we continuously
spending money to upgrade a fleet that already outclasses every other
country’s? The US currently spends
around $1 trillion annually on defense and homeland security. As the country is
gradually reducing its presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, many experts point out
that Washington needs to determine which programs enhance security enough to
justify their costs. There
is no justification for military of the size we have. Even pro-military
analysts like estimate that the military could be reduced in man power by about
25%. The problem lies in the fact that once you have a big military like this
and there are a lot of companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin that make
money from it, you have to find a way to justify it.
Sources:
You make some good points as to the fact that the US is continuing to waste money improving a military force that is already greater than the rest of the world, combined. But, I think some more statistics to imply relative size would be great as an improvement; if you were to show, for example, the total US debt, the total US GDP, and perhaps the sizes of current battleships; there would be a lot more context for your statistics that mean little to people who are new to the field.
ReplyDeleteThere is some good points but there is multiple underlying variables why the US keeps making more ships even though they are in dept. For example, it takes 7 billion dollars to make the ship but this is a form of stimulating the government. If they spend money on the ship they are re-putting that money back in the government. It is much like the welfare but they are paying people to work compared to just given them money.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a great topic because if you look at the U.S. army, the most powerful army in the world, you have to wonder why the government is spending even more money when they are already in debt. I’m no mathematician but I believe 7 billion dollars is a lot of money. I have to agree with Tanner in that you could use a little more context as it would help compare with other numbers. With the fact that U.S. troops are coming back home, it is interesting why the country is putting so much money into defense while the technology surpasses many other countries.
ReplyDeleteI like this topic because it just shows how the USA is just adding more to are deficit. We are already in a huge hole, so why not just make it deeper by spending more money on things that aren't really necessary at the moment. I can't really see how we are going to get out of this deficit as well.
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