Wargame ..

[danstudentvcc]

I have a CDROM of this wargame that runs in modern time-frames.

It has game components that require the players to select economic strategies; education; R & D; weapons upgrades; Nukes etc ...

One of the little tid-bits they list is that a top of the line modern aircraft-carrier;with crew training costs for one year included; built from scratch costs 16 Billion dollars total; again all in just one year. The time required to build the carrier? Just 6 months.

Wonder what the Carl Sagan of aircraft carriers would cost nowadays.

:surprise:

That much eh?!

danstudentvcc

[Skirmisher]

The US spends somewhere in the area of 400 billion per year on various military components.

[danstudentvcc]

The US spends somewhere in the area of 400 billion per year on various military components.
I thought you wrote 40 billion and that seemed like mere crumbs.
But then I got here and read that you wrote 400 billion and wow, that is a large number ..

I did a Yahoo! search and came up with 2 tidbits that support your numbers.

1) was an adobe file on spending since 1789 or so, to present projections for 2004 and beyond.
2) ---> www.JohnForUSSenate.com ; and they write:
Defense:In conjunction with a sound U.S. Security Policy (http://www.johnmcalister.com/campaign/ussecurity.html) the United States must have a Defense Budget to implement that policy. This budget would provide the money to pay for a military which reflects our security situation. If elected to the U.S. Senate I will do everything within my power to see that Congress will

reduce the budget authorization for national defense by $100 billion—from the planned sum of about $275 billion to $175 billion (in fiscal year 2000 dollars);

make it clear that the reduced budget must be accompanied by a more restrained national military posture that requires enough forces to fight one major theater war;

restructure U.S. forces to reflect the American geostrategic advantage of virtual invulnerability to invasion by deeply cutting ground forces (Army and Marines) while retaining a larger percentage of the Navy and Air Force;

authorize a force structure of 5 active-duty Army divisions (down from 10 now), 1 active Marine division (reduced from 3 now), 7 Air Force expeditionary forces (down from 10 now), and 6 active carrier battle groups with 5 Navy air wings (reduced from 11 and 10, respectively);

require that the armed services compensate for reduced active forces by relying more on the National Guard and the reserves;

terminate weapons systems that are unneeded or are relics of the Cold War and use the savings to give taxpayers a break and to beef up neglected mission areas;

terminate all peacekeeping and overseas presence missions so that the armed services can concentrate on training to fight wars and to deploy from the U.S. homeland in an expeditionary mode should that become necessary

[Skirmisher]

You need to take into acount all the support costs as well as research and development for new military technologies.
The United States has a large amount of oversea's bases,including many new long term bases in Iraq.
the US Navy sails the seven seas and can project power anywhere.
B2 bomber's can deliver a payload anywhere without warning.
And you can't forget all the launches that NASA does for the defense dept,that doesn't add up to peanuts.

Ya I forgot to add the last zero

[danstudentvcc]

You need to take into acount all the support costs as well as research and development for new military technologies.
The United States has a large amount of oversea's bases,including many new long term bases in Iraq.
the US Navy sails the seven seas and can project power anywhere.
B2 bomber's can deliver a payload anywhere without warning.
And you can't forget all the launches that NASA does for the defense dept,that doesn't add up to peanuts.

Ya I forgot to add the last zeroIt gets even worse .. there is also :

Aid to countries [Israel].
Other monies to allies.
National security spending.
What the individual states contribute to bases; social spending for the bases personnel; local Milita [national guard - air sea rescue - support facilities] ..
Aid delivered by military vehicles etc ..
The weapons themselves are just a piece of the pie ..

Here in Canada the memorials are usually handled by Provinces and/or cities .. as are the remembrance day activities. {Surely these are further requirements of military spending: the education and the honouring of the people who served their country ...}

Lastly, there is everyone's favourite topic: the covert and top secret projects that cause 15 000$US hammers to show up in the book keeping!! :D


danstudentvcc