ANZAC Day ADF topic--bloat

The ratio of civilians to military in the Australian Entrenched Defence Bureaucracy (EDB) is not good.

Civilian count is around 21~22k. While cuts have been proposed, they are not enough.

Military personnel numbers are as follows:

Besides the civilian service bloat, look at all this top-rank dead weight.

So where do we get some inspiration for trimming this nonsense?

Cdr Salamander has an idea. The Italians.

"We currently have 183,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilians in defence. We will gradually bring that down to 150,000 soldiers and 20,000 civlians, with a reduction of around 43,000," Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola said. "This target can be achieved in a decade with a 20-percent or 30-percent reduction in hirings, transfers to other civil service jobs and temporary work options," Di Paola told lawmakers at a defence committee hearing. The number of admirals and generals would also be reduced by "more than 30 percent" from the 425 currently in service, Di Paola said.

And, how much of the now $27B per year budget spent by the EDB delivers real combat value?

Italy reduces F-35 order by 40

Italy has reduced their order of F-35s by 40.

Cost is the main reason cited however why did that cost go up?

It went up because of significant incompetence in the area of F-35 program leadership and management which has produced a raft of defects yet to be fixed.

Italy may cut 20-30 F-35s

Like a cruise liner lead by an incompetent captain, Italy's F-35 program has run aground. Just that some refuse to acknowledge it. Best to call abandon-ship now while there is time.

Because when the program gets even worse it may be too late for those that were foolish enough to stick around to get out safely.

If only the program was building the right aircraft.

Italy will likely see 20-30 less F-35s due to program problems and the fact that the country is in financial trouble.

I figure they will probably lose more orders. Just a hunch.

The following quote from Flight Global about Italy's final assembly and checkout facility is interesting.

The site is earmarked to assemble and deliver around 80 F-35As for the Royal Netherlands Air Force in addition to those for Rome. It will also have the capacity to develop a maintenance, repair and overhaul and upgrade capability at a later stage.

A make-work jobs project of little benefit. The Netherlands will never see 80-some jets.

That is a lot of standing around and doing nothing for the final assembly and later refurb work.

But for now, the deluded faithful will follow the church in Cowtown.