As of last week, a weapons platform that the United States Army never really wanted—but was forced to spend nearly $2 billion on over the course of its development cycle—has finally been put out of its misery. 

The M10 Booker tank—which a Pentagon spokesman confirmed would see no further orders on Thursday—was originally envisioned as a light tank. Owing to the broken nature of the military’s acquisition system, the “light tank” grew to 42 tons over the course of its development. In short, what was supposed to be a cost-effective light tank became just the opposite. 

The Pentagon’s Acquisitions Approach: Buy First, Design Later

Development on the M10 Booker program was undertaken by General Dynamics Land Systems in 2022. The Army intended to have 500 units of the purportedly cheap light tank by 2024.

What the M10 suffered under was part of a growing and disturbing pattern in which the requirements of a new platform change after the contracts have been signed. Oftentimes, the Pentagon bureaucracy cannot make up its mind about what it wants from a particular system. Accordingly, rather than wait to sign the contract and begin the process of building the new platform until they can agree upon requirements, acquisitions decision-makers will plow ahead in the short-run and postpone important decisions about the platform until later. This is roughly akin to moving the goalposts in the middle of a game. 

This painful and costly pattern has played out before.........

© The National Interest