Coping mechanisms for D.C. dysfunction.

• Author: I. Erwin, Sandra
• Position: Defense Watch

* Government funding upheaval and unpredictable twists in procurement red tape have become the norm in the defense business. And there are no signs that this will change any time soon, despite repeated, impassioned pleas by four-stars and civilian leaders.

Politicians have downplayed the consequences of living from one fiscal cliff to the next, noting that federal workers and service members have not missed a paycheck and the country somehow continues to function.

The narrative is quite different among those responsible for equipping military forces, maintaining weapons and keeping units combat ready. For them, the last seven years of budget turmoil have been nothing short of a nightmare.

"We've been seven years without a clear budget," said Navy Vice Adm. David "Decoy" Dunaway, commander of Naval Air Systems Command. "We've had this uncertainty for seven years and it's nearly impossible to efficiently spend your taxpayer dollars," he told a reunion of naval aviators in Sparks, Nevada, at the Tailhook Association annual convention.

Why so much angst about unstable budgets? The military ultimately has gotten its funding every year, politics in defense spending are as old as the republic and inefficiency is par for the course in government.

Military officials who manage weapon systems have been adamant that budgetary chaos has wreaked havoc on their programs and has had a cumulative effect over the years. One reason is that the Defense Department--because of its sheer vastness and complex organization--prepares its budgets months and years in advance of the annual deadline when it must be submitted to Congress. With budgets caught in political gridlock and the frequent use of temporary funding measures, military buyers are compelled to think short term, and are reluctant to sign contracts for goods or services that they can't honor.

"We are working on the fiscal 2018 budget, not knowing what the 2017 or the 2016 budget is," Dunaway said. This means that the Navy, for instance, can't be sure whether it will have the funds to pay for new aircraft over the next three years at a time when the current fleet is reaching its breaking point. "We are now managing tail by tail on the margins and there is no place to go if we have problems."

Navy leaders have been compelled to find ways to modernize the fleet without necessarily having to buy big-ticket items they can't afford. One way to do that is to take existing weapon systems and make them do...