Penny Wise Meets Modest Risk: Lawmakers lost no time challenging the Pentagon’s plan to cancel the Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine. At one of the first hearings on the new defense budget, Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio) questioned Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the risk involved, considering past problems with “sole-sourcing jet engines.” In Hobson’s view, “We’re being, frankly, penny wise and pound foolish.” To which Rumsfeld replied: “Previous experience indicated that any sole-source risk was modest and acceptable. And, it saves $1.8 billion.” Hmmm.
30 Years After Desert Storm: Jan. 27
Jan. 26, 2021
In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled Iraq from occupied Kuwait.