Well, At Least they Know that They Can’t Find their Ass with Both Hands

There are only two reasons for the US Army’s Missile Defense Chief to want to give this to the Navy:

The chief of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command would prefer the Navy assume oversight and execution of the budding mission to base SM-3 Block IB ballistic missile killers ashore in Europe for protection against an Iranian attack. “Today, we have a number of priorities that we have trouble meeting outside of missile defense,” Lt. Gen. Kevin Campbell says, including providing weapons for the wars abroad. The Pentagon plans to field in Europe the Block IB interceptors designed for use on Aegis ships by 2015, and later the longer-range Block IIAs. The Army has 10 years’ experience in operating land-based missile defense architectures abroad through the Patriot PAC-3 and now the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system, but Campbell says his command is strapped for resources.

The first is that they think that the system will fail, though the Navy’s Standard Missile has had a much better record in test than the Army’s systems, and the second is that he legitimately believes that the Army would screw this up to the degree that it would harm his career.

Me, I go with the 2nd hypothesis.

It’s actually a good thing. The first step to getting out of a hole that you have dug yourself in is to realize that you are in a hole.

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