In a stunning development, the New York Times is reporting that the Pentagon has announced a major cut in a wildly expensive (and perhaps wasteful) program. In "Looking for Cuts, Pentagon Turns to Jet Fighter Program" Eric Schmitt writes:

The Pentagon has told the White House and Congress that it plans sharp cuts in the Air Force's program for the F/A-22, the most expensive fighter jet in history, in an effort that budget analysts said was intended to offset mounting deficits and the growing costs of the war in Iraq.

[...]

At the moment, the fighter, known as the Raptor, costs about $258 million a plane. That is based on an overall cost of $71.8 billion, and the Air Force's plans to buy 277 Raptors.

Senior Pentagon and Air Force officials were still discussing details of the cutbacks. One leading industry analyst, Loren Thompson, said the program could be ended after producing about 160 aircraft, possibly saving more than $15 billion over time but significantly raising the cost per plane. The Pentagon has already spent nearly $40 billion to develop the aircraft, which is just now coming into full production, Air Force officials said.

It's great to see the Pentagon finally dropping an extremely expensive program, but it is nevertheless ridiculous that we dumped $40 billion into a program that's never going to be fully implemented. I suppose you can't win them all.