Random Biggest Military Wastes of Money (16 items)

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  (#11) Maginot Line - 7 Billion Francs

  The trauma of the Great War led France to develop a defensive strategy, hoping to build strong enough defenses to shore up an army weakened by a low birth rate. The Line was designed to make the French/German border so impregnable that troops and tanks could be stationed on the Belgian border, where Germany had attacked France in 1914. It could also be used as a basis for a counter-attack, and to hold the Germans off while France mobilized. Secretly, the French also hoped that by funneling an attack into Belgium, it would draw England into the conflict - exactly like 1914.

  The cost of the Line was staggering - 7 billion Francs, or about a third of France's entire military budget. And when Germany's attack came, their forces simply went around the Line, punching through the undefended Ardennes Forest in southern Belgium, and beating France's over-matched, poorly-led army in six weeks. Where the Line was tested, its troops fought well. But it simply didn't do what it was designed to do.
  
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  (#15) XM2001 Crusader - $2 Billion

  Designed to be the Army's new self-propelled gun, the Crusader was intended to be lighter, faster, and more powerful than current artillery. It turned out to be unsuitable for the post Cold War military - a mobile, precise cannon that wasn't mobile or precise enough. It was cancelled in 2002, with over $2 billion down the tubes. Concepts from the Crusader were used in the experimental XM-203 Line of Sight Cannon - which was also cancelled.
  
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  (#3) Strategic Defense Initiative - $100-150 Billion

  Announced just a few weeks after Ronald Reagan's "evil empire" speech, the Strategic Defense Initiative was meant to be a space-based system of lasers and satellites that would shoot down any Russian intercontinental or submarine-launched nuclear missile headed toward the United States.

  What it became was a black hole of theoretical research, pop culture ridicule, political tension, and spent money. A staggering amount of money. Estimates on the cost of SDI research and development start at $100 billion, and run as high as $150 billion. All for a system that was dependent on technology that was never developed past the theoretical stage. Thankfully, some of the money was spent on basic science research, so it wasn't a total waste.
  
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  (#10) Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche

  • Attack helicopter

  The Comanche was developed as a one-chopper-fits-all replacement for the Huey, Cobra, and Kiowa helicopters the Army had been using for decades. Meant to be stealthy, fast, and able to execute a number of different missions, instead was a balky and risky boondoggle that literally had trouble getting off the ground. Two prototypes were built, and the program was cancelled in 2004 - with almost $7 billion spent.
  
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  (#14) Army Combat Uniform - $5 Billion

  The Army spent $5 billion to develop and produce a uniform featuring a camouflage pattern that could be used in any environment. The result, the ACU unveiled in 2004, was so unpopular and ineffective that soldiers in combat environments simply stopped wearing it. The Army had to buy uniforms from private contractors, while sinking more money into developing a new pattern. New uniforms were finally approved in 2014 - but used a design the Army had actually been considering before the ACU.
  
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  (#6) Project Nike - $20 Billion

  Cold War paranoia over waves of Soviet bombers blasting the US into nuclear oblivion led to a staggering engineering and military project, code-named Nike. It was a plan to build anti-aircraft missile batteries all over the country, concentrating on cities, military targets, and industrial bases. The missiles were placed in batteries of two or three, with corresponding radars, barracks, underground storage bunkers, elevators, and maintenance facilities.

  Nike Ajax Missiles were replaced by Nike Hercules Missiles, which were replaced by Nike Zeus missiles. All the while, the Soviet Union was phasing bombers out, making the missiles useless. Nike was ended in the mid 70s, and no missile was ever fired at an enemy. The cost of the program was enormous, at least $20 billion, and probably much more. Nike sites today mostly sit abandoned, with many of them posing severe environmental hazards.
  

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