Peacetime Procurement Problems

The headaches, they never stop:

The U.S. Army is spending another $12 million to try and get their new XM-7 Spider “user detonated landmine” system working and into production. The XM-7 has been in development since 1999, and about $150 million has been spent to get the system working reliably enough to send into combat. This was supposed to happen starting in 2004, but there were delays, most of them for technical problems. It was believed that the XM-7 would be useful defending bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the delays kept preventing mass production. This new contract is one last effort to get this system ready for action.

The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong were able to build effective mines and booby traps out of our leftover bits and pieces. We’re unable to field a single new device after $150 million dollars and almost 15 years of effort. No pun intended, but we have got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot like this.