Army developing improved active protection systems for vehicle armor

This is not "new news" per se, but rather my commentary on the timelines proposed by this project and others I've seen lately. It is unacceptable that it will take *2 years* to field a technology that is already developed and currently used, in combat, by a close ally of the United States. The new National Defense Strategy specifically called out Russia and China as competitors that are eroding our technological edge. THIS is why - and it has to stop. We cannot afford this track record of lagging failure. Something like this should take no longer than 6 months to configure and push out. You could probably find a group of graduate students at a mechanical engineering college to pair up with some programmers to get this done, and yet the Army cannot get its shit together. It's time the military start to hold itself accountable.

Sadly, this is not a unique case. Upgrades to the Abrams (Sep 3) are expected to take until 2024, a new Army rifle 2022, and SHORAD (again, existing technology on a proven platform) 2020+. DOD-wide, project after project has failed to deliver on its expected goals and consistently runs over budget by double, triple, or pen-tuple it's original allocation. This has to change. We can no longer afford complacency. American lives, prestige, and security are at stake. It is high time our research and procurement act like it.