Despite the impact Covid-19 has had on the global economy, the US is seeking more funding to counter and confront China in the Pacific, as well as enhancing its military preparedness for scenarios involving nuclear warfare. The coronavirus outbreak has impacted the global economy in a unique and unprecedented fashion unseen since World War II. Around 63 percent of Japanese businesses have projecte [...]
The embattled USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), flagship of the new Ford class of carriers which the US Navy plans to eventually replace its Enterprise- and Nimitz-class warships with, is currently years behind schedule, and facing a slew of issues which US lawmakers have complained seem to have no “end in sight.” A new report by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT& [...]
The long list of problems plaguing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter continues to grow, with a Pentagon review finding over 800 software flaws in the costly aircraft, as well as defects that prevent its guns from hitting targets. The annual assessment by the Pentagon’s director of operational testing and evaluation, Robert Behler, revealed that the program that has cost over $400 billion so far has [...]
The Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic missile was first revealed to the public by the country's President Vladimir Putin in March 2018 and has since undergone numerous tests with the Russian Air Force – which have only confirmed its operational capabilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended war games between the Russian Northern and Black Sea fleets on 9 January and had a chance to see [...]
The US military’s F-35 Lightning II stealth aircraft have a problem with spare parts, and it’s keeping the planes out of the sky, according to a new report by a government watchdog. "F-35 aircraft were unable to fly nearly 30% of the May-November 2018 time period due to spare parts shortages," according to an April report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). [...]
Escalation of US-China bilateral tariffs to shave off $1 trillion from America’s GDP. A study by the US Chamber of Commerce shows how the deterioration in the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, will drastically affect the American economy. [...]
In the aftermath of the deadly 9/11 terrorist attacks, the US has spent over $5.9 trillion on wars abroad that have resulted in the deaths of an estimated 500,000 people, according to Costs of War, research published by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Rhode Island’s Brown University. [...]
The latest technical glitch has delivered additional setbacks to the Pentagon's most prized fifth-generation fighter jet. Military experts have been left scratching their helmets trying to figure out a viable solution to the problem, but options remain limited. [...]
RT’s Boom Bust show presents the second part of a special project that looks into the quality of the US infrastructure. Even President Trump admitted that, when it comes to airports, the US is like a Third World country. Infrastructure is one of the major issues in the US as it affects the lives of millions of people and billions of dollars in the world’s largest economy. [...]
Toilet seat covers that cost $10,000? Coffee mugs for $1,200 apiece? No wonder NATO countries aren’t too keen to follow US military spending benchmarks. Even the Pentagon is looking for better deals and 3D printing for savings. While President Donald Trump browbeats NATO allies into increasing their military spending, the US Department of Defense is spending untold amounts of taxpayer money on c [...]
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has cost the US taxpayer a whopping $17 million to date and returned no evidence of collusion. The investigation spent approximately $10 million between October 2017 and March this year, according to a Department of Justice report released Thursday. [...]
Between globalization and nearly 20 years of constant warfare, the industrial part of the US military-industrial complex is not looking so good, putting future wars at risk, according to a new Pentagon report. The Annual Industrial Capabilities report, published by the Pentagon’s Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy, warns that reliance on foreign-sourced materials combined with [...]
A first-ever full-scale audit of the Pentagon’s massive military budget promises details that may upset some, but according to government officials will be worth its nearly $1 billion price tag. According to US Department of Defense (DoD) undersecretary David Norquist, the ongoing audit of the Pentagon's books — the first ever for the enormous American military — will be worth the nearly $1 [...]
A group of US lawmakers have called for strategic dialogue with Moscow. They feel that the matter is “more urgent” following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unveiling of a number of cutting-edge weapons systems. “A US-Russia Strategic Dialogue is more urgent following President Putin’s public address on March 1st when he referred to several new nuclear weapons Russia is reportedly dev [...]
The head of the Pentagon's F-35 office has confirmed that some 49% of the 280 planes delivered to the military by Lockheed Martin are suffering from a series of hardware and software problems. Vice Admiral Matt Winter, director of the F-35 Joint Program Office, has confirmed that just 51% the US new 5th-gen fighter aircraft are flight ready, with the initial production lots delivered starting in [...]
It is an age-old statecraft technique to seek unity within a state by depicting an external enemy or threat. Russia is the bête noire again, as it was during the Cold War as part of the Soviet Union. But the truth is Western states are challenged by internal problems. Ironically, by denying their own internal democratic challenges, Western authorities are only hastening their institutional demis [...]
The US government shut down at midnight Friday, the 18th such event in modern US history. RT takes a look at previous instances of congressional stalemate that brought the country to a standstill. A shutdown occurs when Congress can’t agree on a spending bill. It results in the temporary suspension of “non-essential” civil services. [...]
The ‘War on Terror’ cost US taxpayers at least $1.46 trillion since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense’s cost of war report has revealed. The 74-page DoD dossier was obtained by the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News. It breaks down the cost of the US’s various conflicts and reveals the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq account for the greatest chunk [...]
The F-35’s dismal performance record is driving up operating costs for the fighters, according to a recent government report.
The F-35’s unreliability and slow repair time contribute to its tendency to be something of a black hole for US taxpayer dollars. [...]
On Tuesday the Pentagon denied that it attempted to cover up a study from 2015 indicating potential savings in noncombat administrative programs of $125 billion.
Through recommendations based on a back-office waste evaluation, the Defense Department hopes to save $7.9 billion in the next five years. [...]
The major takeaway from the US Presidential election, and from the events which have shaped the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s Presidency - both his actions and the reactions of his opponents - is that America is tired.
It is not difficult to see why since the US has for decades been behaving in a way that was guaranteed eventually to exhaust it. [...]
The Department of Defense finds itself in a controversy that continues to unfold in the wake of an Inspector General Report in June that found that the US Army's financial summaries misstated balances by $6.5 trillion.
A June report by the Defense Department’s Inspector General uncovered that the Army made $2.8 trillion in wrongful adjustments to accounting entries in one quarter alone in 201 [...]