Army Doesn't Want Tanks, Congress Orders Them Anyway

The Army said it has all the tanks it needs, thank you very much. Service leaders made the same argument last year, but that didn't stop Congress from funneling $255 million into this year's defense budget to buy another 42 M1 Abrams. The Army's secretary and chief of staff were back on Capitol Hill yesterday, telling lawmakers its current Abrams fleet has an average age of only about 2-1/2 years. But Congress wants to keep the Abrams production line open. Defense News reported, an Army analysis found it would cost about $3 billion to keep the line up and running. That's significantly more than the $600 million to $800 million it would cost to shut it down and bring it back online when more tanks were needed.