Russ Feingold: “I support the decision of the Secretary of Defense to cancel this program. Last month, I actually introduced legislation…”

“I support the decision of the Secretary of Defense to cancel this program. Last month, I actually introduced legislation that would terminate the Crusader, saving the taxpayers an estimated $10 billion over the life of the program. I commend the Secretary of Defense for his efforts to transform our military to meet the challenges of the 21st century and beyond, and agree that the cold war era dinosaurs such as the Crusader should be terminated. The centerpiece of the Crusader system is a 40-ton, 155-millimeter, self-propelled howitzer designed to fire heavy artillery shells long distances to target enemy tanks and other armored vehicles on the battlefield. Each system has two support vehicles. Our military is seeking to be able to deploy rapidly, obviously, to anywhere in the world, but the Crusader apparently is not conducive to such rapid deployment. But the threat has changed and the Crusader program, with a price tag of $11 billion, is not needed and should be cancelled.”