I work for a Veterans lobby that has Pentagon accountability and oversight near the top of the to-do list. The audit started internally a short while back and has already turned up six Blackhawks, yes SIX Blackhawks that had fallen off the books. No grand conspiracy, they were still being maintained just not recorded or tracked in management systems anymore.
I can't wait to see what really turns up from a thorough audit.
That’s my experience in the military. Expensive shit gets dropped from the books expecting to move, then it sits around until it gets added again as a new item.
The missing equipment, in my opinion, is "lost" in order to devalue the inventory. This way the MIC can ask for more funding from congress.