Shockingly weapon systems tend to be late and more expensive then originally planned

April 1, 2008 by Dagpotter
Filed under: Department of Defense, Federal Budget Process, GAO, development program 

In their regular annual review of weapon system acquisition the GAO figured out the current programs are on average 2 years behind schedule and a few billion over initial budget estimates. See the story here. Shocking!! This has always been the trend with these large systems. The initial cost estimates and schedules are optimistic and are based on the requirement set that exists when the contract is awarded. As the program develops and requirements change it takes time and money to fix the issues as they develop. Testing, which usually doesn’t happen until later in the program, reveals issues that take time to fix and then adds additional tests. All of these factors have been consistent for years. The only way that this is not going to happen is if everything goes perfectly, which is a little unrealistic expectation.

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2 Responses to “Shockingly weapon systems tend to be late and more expensive then originally planned”

  1. OSD expresses concern over protests | Defense Procurement News on April 21st, 2008 4:54 pm

    [...] lost KC-45 award, but to look to future competitions. He also generally agreed with the recent GAO report that systems are over cost and behind schedule, but that is to be expected. With the tanker [...]

  2. Congress states the obvious | Defense Procurement News on April 29th, 2008 4:52 pm

    [...] response to this GAO report a while back Congress had some hearings to bash DoD acquisition programs. The article is here. The [...]

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