Nice Shootin' Tex

Our military is at it again. Apparently when you have a budget of over 500 billion dollars you can splurge on things like howitzer ammo. The military currently uses the 155mm self propelled howitzer called the M109A6 Paladin. The M109 has been around since 1963 going through a variety of upgrades until we arrive at the current Paladin model. Don't worry too much about the M109A6 as it is in the process of being replaced by the M109A7. Here is what the Paladin looks like.

You might have the same question I did. Why isn't this a tank? It sure looks like a tank. The difference is that a self propelled howitzer cannot fire on the move. It must stop to fire so it is not a tank. The Paladin carries a crew of four and has a digital firing system with GPS. It carries 39 projectiles and is supported by the M992 ammunition supply vehicle which can carry a maximum of 93 rounds. The Paladin can stop and fire its first round within 60 seconds. What does this have to do with money?

So glad you asked. A standard round for the Paladin 155mm howitzer is approximately $1,000. Raytheon Corporation has developed a new precision fire round called Excalibur which can hit a 2 meter target at a distance of 30 miles when fired from a Paladin howitzer. If you laid on the ground 30 miles away the Excalibur round would hit somewhere between your head and your feet. It several test firings it has hit consistently within one meter of the target at 30 miles. Now the money. An Excalibur round for the Paladin costs $70,000. It is 70 times more expensive than the "dumb" round. If you want to do the math the Army has 975 Paladins in their arsenals. They each hold 39 rounds. If you wanted to load them the cost is about $2,660,000,000. That is billions folks. The Excalibur round can also be fired from the American M198 and M777 howitzers. Army "experts" estimate that a Paladin with dumb rounds would take between 10 and 50 unguided rounds to hit a target the Excalibur can take out with one round. Of course the argument is that less ammo would have to be shipped so the savings in the supply chain would make up for the additional costs of the Excalibur rounds.

What do I think? We continue to ignore improvements to crumbling roads and bridges. We have cut programs designed to feed our poor and house them in a safe manner. If someone comes up with a new weapon that costs 70 times more than what we currently use, there seems to be plenty of money for that kind of thing. I find it as upsetting as Friday's action by the House of Representatives. They voted to make a temporary tax break for businesses permanent. The tax break allowed businesses to more quickly write off the costs of new equipment. The approval of this bill will cost the treasury an estimated 287 billion dollars over the next ten years. Why is this a problem? It has to do with being consistent. When Democrats want to extend jobless benefits or make infrastructure improvements the Republicans want every dollar offset. When the Republicans want to make a tax break permanent they don't have any problem with the budget. Money is not an issue. The Republicans argue that the tax break helps the economy. Their argument falls apart when you look at the economic benefits to the economy provided by food stamps. jobless benefits and education for example. If you want to look at the immigration problem the Republicans felt 3.4 billion dollars was too much but they just allowed the expenditure of 84 times that much in tax breaks with no problem. So tax breaks and weapon systems good, social safety net and infrastructure expenditures bad. Somehow our priorities are all wrong.