Although the Bush administration doled out plenty of love to the military in its 2008 budget request, one little-known Army project is feeling broken-hearted. "Future Combat Systems," a high-tech program that develops experimental weapons such as unmanned drones and cute robots that explore enemy tunnels and look like Johnny 5, is being squeezed again.
A story in The Politico describes how FCS has had its funding slashed by $825 million over the last three years. A beleaguered Army plans to cut the FCS budget even further and Boeing and Science Applications International Corp., the two main contractors for FCS, have launched a lobbying effort to save the program.
If interested, you can download this tactical training game (1.5 GB) and familiarize yourself with all of the 18 FCS systems. You want a non-line-of-sight howitzer cannon that fires 10 rounds a minute? Of course you do.
