I tend to pontificate that we should recapitalize with an eye towards long term costs.

As it stands, things tend to get bloated during procurement. If that process could be better controlled, we might be able to procure equipment that costs less, and costs less to run.

For instance, the cost to maintain an aircraft escalates as that plane nears end of life. Replacing it with a new plane that uses a smaller crew, a smaller support crew, less fuel and fewer parts might save enough money to make up the difference.

Would a new engine for the Abrams make it more reliable while simultaneously reducing the need for fuelers and tankers?

Similarly, do we need to duplicate capabilities? Does Excalibur provide anything that GMLRS can't do for less?

At the same time, we could look at what we need and why. Do we need a division, a brigade and a regiment on jump status? Do we need all 11 CVNs?