Battleland

Why the Pentagon Costs So Much…

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The Rubbernator, by Hi-Lite Hydro-Blasters

We all grumble about how much the U.S. military costs to run. When we do, we tend to focus on troops (pay, health care, benefits, retirement) and weapons (costly stealth coatings, turbine tank engines, electro-magnetic launchers on the new Ford class of aircraft carriers).

But that’s not the whole story. There’s a lot of costs you might never have imagined. Even Battleland is dumbfounded once in awhile to find in various budgetary nooks and crannies what the military spends money on.

Here’s the latest: the Air Force is seeking bids on a pair of big trucks for its airbases at Ramstein, Germany, and Incirlik, Turkey “to remove rubber from aircraft runway using high pressure water without using chemicals, leaving debris on pavement or damaging traffic/airfield markings.”

Turns out those skid marks left by landing airplanes reduce the runways’ friction, making brakes less effective.