When POGO first started as the Project on Military Procurement, we tackled the problems with defense procurement through the lens of spare parts because while most people aren't sure what a fighter plane should cost, anyone can feel confident that a coffee maker shouldn't cost $7600 (even today’s choosey chefs draw the line at $2k). With the exception of a few examples, spare parts are rarely discussed anymore. But it's not because they don't matter. As POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian said at Cato's Can the Pentagon Be Fixed event:
The fact that we aren't hearing about overpriced spare parts--and remember that weapons systems are simply overpriced spare parts flying in close formation--is not because they aren't happening anymore. We aren't hearing about them because in the 90's, the contracting system was radically changed to remove the "red tape" of oversight and transparency so that we can no longer see cost and pricing data. This mentality led to both the C-17 and the C-130J cargo planes being bought through "commercial contracts" as though there had been free market forces determining their prices. But how many of you have found these military cargo planes at Walmart?
But in addition to costs, there have been several news reports in the past few weeks about weaknesses in parts grounding planes. First it was the C-130 Hercules, and now Defense Tech is reporting that a loose bolt found near a MV-22 Osprey rotor in Iraq has grounded the whole fleet. The DEW Line is reporting that the problems on the Osprey are probably due to a safety-critical design flaw, rather than shoddy maintenance.
The spare parts lens may sometimes seem like missing the forest for the trees, but these latest reports show that the parts make up an important part of the strategic whole.
-- Mandy Smithberger
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