Time to Cancel the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS)

Today (June 30), President Obama officially thanked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his hard work as sec. Gates leaves the Pentagon.  When Leon Panetta takes over as Secretary of Defense on July 1, he will have many budgetary issues to deal with, including the future of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).

Originally conceived as the replacement to the Patriot missile system, MEADS is being jointly built by the United States, Italy, and Germany, but Americans are shouldering more than 50 percent of the cost. Even though the Army has opposed the project, Congress allocated an additional $800 million in February and, last week, voted to further continue funding the project.  Unfortunately, misinformation and political wrangling may delay the cancellation of the program.

The current discussion is not about the capability of the Patriot system versus the MEADS system, but is instead a battle between playing politics and using common sense. An internal Army memo sent in May concluded that “The system will not meet U.S. requirements or address the current and emerging threat without extensive and costly modifications.” So, if the system doesn’t work and won’t keep the army or citizens any safer, why are we still paying for it?

Pentagon officials claim they must continue funding the program because it would be too costly to terminate MEADS. But with more than an estimated $1 billion still needed in the development phase, there is a large amount of money to be saved by immediately shelving the project. The Pentagon has also argued that the “benefits to the partner nations of continuing a proof of concept development” outweigh the program’s costs. However, it has been reported that both Germany and Italy are looking to pull out of the MEADS program, leaving America to foot the bill for the entire system.  If both Germany and Italy seem as dis-interested as the United States Army is, there is no reason for the U.S. to continue to throw away billions of taxpayer dollars on developing a system that no one wants to buy.

Now, according to Defensenews.com, the prime contractor for MEADS says that the program will save money.  “’We have done analysis that suggests that MEADS will literally save the U.S. government billions of dollars,’ Marty Coyne, Lockheed’s MEADS business development director, told reporters here June 20. ‘We think it makes sense for an independent cost estimate.’”  It is ludicrous to think that continuing a program that the Army doesn’t want could ever save taxpayer dollars.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted to eliminate funding and the House Armed Services Committee severely cut funding for MEADS.  This is a clear signal to the Pentagon, and Secretary Panetta, that this should be the end of the line for MEADS.