Unguided Missiles How America Buys Its Weapons [Paperback]

The B-1 bomber&the cruise missile&the Trident submarine&the Trident missile&the M-1 tank&the MX missile& Why were these weapons built? Why are they so expensive? Why dont they work as promised? Americans are generally aware that a huge problem exists in the ways and means of defense procurement. What few understand, however, is the actual process of buying a weapon. [A] very useful book . . . Written for the general reader, it brings into clear relief the complex relationship between weapons procurement and the forces of technology, service parochialism, the arms race, military strategy and arms control. More significantly, it reveals that weapons acquisition depends as much on political compromise as on superpower parity, military doctrine or even plain logic.