http://heavy.com/tech/2013/11/uss-zumwalt-destroyer/
The Ship is pretty sexy but do you think they could've spent the money on something else? In what situation would the US ever have to use this ship?
So basically the Question is the Zumwalt worth every penny or is it a massive waste of money?
Edit: Looks like 3.5 billion was the original estimate but according to [url=http://www.businessinsider.com/the-uss-zumwalt-ddg-1000-a-silver-bullet-of-stealth-2012-06]This[/url] it cost over 7 billion.
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In what situation would we need it? Well sounds like any major military conflict it might be useful. Also with a small radar signature, espionage missions would benefit from it. Could that money be used else were? Of course it could be, in fact, any money put towards the military could be used else were. Any money used for the NSA or government research could be used else were for that matter. The issue here is that hind sight is 20/20. It sounds like there is some good tech in there and that having a few of these ships out there is probably a good thing in the long run. Should they pump money into many of these? Probably not without some major military conflict to demand it. However, having this ship might lead to another ship design with similar capabilities and tech with a lower budget. Look at it this way, if we were to find out tomorrow that China/north Korea/Russia had some highly advanced warship sitting on our doorstep that we did not know about, we'd be glad to have this new ship.