
Still wrong.
But never mind that, Reagan took office in Jan '81. That means the DoD wasn't operating on a single cent he approved of until at least Oct of '81 for the FY '82 budget.

Watch this. (You are a worse double-speaker than stat guy.)
So let's get this double-speak straight (if we can).
The stealth program was Reagan's even though the 'research' began under someone else but ALCM is attributed to Ford and Nixon because the 'research' began under them??
The stealth program was Reagan's??? Tell me (us) how a plane who's first flight was in '81 before Reagan could spend a single cent on defense his? I'll tell you how, it wasn't. The F-117 stealth (fighter in name only) bomber began FSD and was contracted in '78...that's how. The B-2 (ATB) project began in '79. The contract was awarded in '81 to North./Boeing. Carter even
announced we were developing the bomber in 1980 for ****** out loud. ACLM's R&D was initially green lit under Nixon but was cancelled and revived multiple times until Carter ordered full scale production in 1980.
Again, with the development of Carter era stealth, ACLM along with the continued reliability of the B-52...the B-1 was a waste in that context. I can only think of a couple of reason Reagan revive it. Politics and ignorance. He ran against Carter on it and GOPer hawks were playing their usual soft on defense card but during that time the stealth projects were super secret in the years preceding the election...So Reagan was free to run around blathering about the B-1 and how weak Carter seemed.
So 588? Largely achieved by recommissioning decommissioned ships and pushing out the timelines for ships due to be decommissioned.
Fooling myself? So we know Reagan and his Reaganauts thought this, you and they theorize the Soviets thought this but no one else with common sense believes this. So who are the fools?
They were being used at some point so we know their use qualifies as a 'factor' in double-speak. The question is whether the **** was out of the ***** already.
How old was I? I served in Reagan's military...how about that?
It is generally considered the US and Soviets were closer to all out nuclear war under Reagan for the first time since the Cuban missile standoff.
Do you know what that means really?????? That means, Reagan was handed a game that was already won and the idiot nearly lost it...because that's what could have happened if the Reaganauts had been left to guide this dimwit for his entire presidency and we ended up trying to blow each other to bits.
Hindsight is realizing you ****** a ton of money then trying to put the best spin on it.
No different from the babble GWB revisionists employ re the clusterfuck that was the Iraq war. No WMD? Well 'isn't the world a safer place without Saddam Hussein?' or the GWB 'kept us safe' mantra.

GOPers are legendary for their ability to miscalculate and fuck up (allot) then recast it as a strategy that won or accomplished something.
Well, at least Reagan didn't get a bunch of people ****** unnecessarily like Bush did ...though he tried his best.