A recent report by the General Accounting Office revealed that the super-secret B-2 stealth bomber is vulnerable to rain and inhospitable environments.

This is the same plane that is known for the being the most expensive aircraft ever built, at $2 billion. The report said that the radar- absorbing skin of the airplane deteriorates in heat, humidity, and rain. It also said that the plane must be “… exposed only to the most benign environments — low humidity, no precipitation, moderate temperatures.” Well, it should be no problem finding that kind of weather.

The B-2s can now only be stored in climate-controlled shelters at their home, Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. There were plans to stage the aircraft overseas, but since there are no such shelters overseas, that plan was scrapped.

It’s hard to believe that Northrop Grumman, the manufacturer, didn’t do its homework when constructing the aircraft.

One would think that a company building the most expensive aircraft in history could remember that it might fly in the rain.

The U.S. is now left with a $2 billion plane that needs an umbrella when the sky turns gray.

A different procurement system and proper planning could have prevented this.

While the U.S. still needs complex military equipment to defend the country and its interests, the costs of operating and maintaining these platforms are becoming prohibitive.

Colossal blunders like this one are wasting the taxpayers’ money. While we could look past such problems during the arms race of the 1980’s, in today’s increasingly frugal government they are costly for the defense establishment.

We have already made significant cuts in our defense, and cutting back more could spell trouble.

What we need to do instead is save money when acquiring these expensive items.

It’s time to change the system.

The defense contractors who produce military hardware have a contract with the federal government. That contract states that the United States will buy X bombers at price Y.

If, however, the contractor runs into problems with costs, they can get more money from the government to pay for it.

These are called cost overruns, and they are the reason our military has become so expensive.

If you remember a few years ago, Congress investigated companies charging the Defense Department $600 for toilet seats and $15 for a single nail. Though most overruns are not this blatant, they still account for a huge sum in our budget.

For instance, Northrop Grumman claimed in 1981 that they could provide the government with 132 B-2s for roughly $170 million apiece. Adjusted for inflation, that figure equals about $310 million today. That’s still expensive, but affordable.

That means these overruns account for nearly 84 percent of the cost of the stealth bomber. If the law was written to make contractors stick to the contract they signed, we would save billions.

Marginal cost overruns are understandable, since such things are part of business. However anytime a contractor charges double or even triple the cost of their product, there is a problem.

The U.S. armed forces are by far the finest group of men and women on the planet. Their training is superb, and we provide them with the best technology money can buy.

However, we can provide that same technology at a much cheaper price. President Dwight Eisenhower warned Americans of the “military-industrial complex.”

We have just that in our society today. Our government is purchasing products with tremendously inflated prices.

Would you pay $13 for a gallon of milk? Why then does the Defense Department allow itself to pay such outrageous sums for military equipment?

It would take immense time and effort to change the entrenched policies and bureaucracy of the procurement process. It would be worth it, though.

To keep our military the best in the world, we will have to continue to constantly improve technology. In today’s world, we also have to do it cheaper.

The engineers will have to start working with the accountants to make our military affordable as well as unstoppable.

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Rob Zeis is a senior in finance from Des Moines.