Defense's Looming Fiscal Crisis

Tech Insider blogger Robert Charette has written an article for the November issue of IEEE Spectrum magazine on the Defense Department's deeply troubled process for buying weapons systems, most of which include advanced technology. Here are some facts, figures and quotes culled from the Charette's in-depth - and disconcerting -- look at what has become an acquisition system that some say is unsustainable:

--In 2007, the GAO estimated that current programs in development were experiencing an average delay of 21 months, with a few programs nearly a decade behind schedule.

--$21 million: Amount the Pentagon spends per hour to procure new Defense systems.

--Defense programs are now "so massive and so fanciful we don't know how to get there," says Katherine Schinasi, the GAO's managing director of acquisitions and sourcing management.