Even if the DOD is effective, using the verb “acquire” jeopardizes these benefits
Sarewitz and Thernstrom 2012 – *Co-Director, Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, Arizona State University, **Senior Climate Policy Advisor, Clean Air Task Force (March, Daniel and Samuel, “Energy Innovation at the Department of Defense: Assessing the Opportunities”, http://bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Energy%20Innovation%20at%20DoD.pdf)
DoD’s Modernization Dilemma: Moving Innovations through the Acquisition System
In the 2009 Defense Authorization Act, Congress instructed¶ DoD to consider the fully burdened costs of energy in future ¶ acquisition decisions (i.e., life-cycle costs attributable to energy ¶ consumption). As yet, no information on fully burdened energy ¶ costs calculated under DoD’s implementing regulations appears ¶ to be publicly available. More to the point, acquisition programs ¶ take years to complete, and systems then remain in service for ¶ decades. The major programs under way today will dominate ¶ DoD energy consumption for the next half century. These ¶ programs, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, reflect decisions ¶ made when DoD considered energy consumption primarily ¶ as it affected platform range (and carbon footprint was of no ¶ concern at all). The F-35 program began in the mid-1990s, when ¶ oil sold for around $20 per barrel; low-rate production began in ¶ 2005, testing and engineering development will continue until ¶ at least 2018, and current plans call for cumulative deliveries of ¶ 2,456 aircraft through 2035. Ongoing incremental changes to the ¶ F-35’s engine, airframe, and flight controls will at best reduce fuel ¶ consumption a little.
Major systems invariably cost too much for frequent ¶ replacement, and consequently remain in service for lengthy ¶ periods. Acquisition costs for the F-35, DoD’s most expensive ¶ program, are expected to exceed $385 billion.¶ 17¶ Each Littoral ¶ Combat Ship, exclusive of weapons modules, will cost some ¶ $500 million (in 2011 dollars); the Navy hopes to buy 55.¶ 18¶ DoD ¶ has purchased nearly 28,000 MRAPs for some $44 billion.¶ 19¶ Modifications or retrofitting to reduce the energy consumption ¶ of existing systems, while frequently suggested, has almost ¶ always been rejected as too costly, as for the Abrams. For the ¶ B-52, designed in the early 1950s and still an Air Force mainstay, ¶ “numerous re-engining studies over the years (at least nine ¶ studies since 1984)” have reached the same conclusion: almost ¶ regardless of future oil prices, total costs will rise.
Although the F-35’s 40-year acquisition cycle is extreme, ¶ even low-cost, straightforward programs take so long to ¶ complete that equipment may be obsolete by the time it ¶ reaches the field. More than four-fifths of the 125,000 diesel ¶ generators in DoD’s inventory are decades old, based on ¶ designs laid down in the 1960s.¶ 20¶ They burn more fuel than ¶ up-to-date equipment—in Iraq and Afghanistan consuming ¶ greater quantities than armored vehicles, helicopters, or trucks ¶ (including transport convoys that haul in the fuel)—and make ¶ more noise, which can alert the enemy.¶ 21
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