Navy Procurement: Option for EA-6B Aircraft Parts Should be Reexamined
Abstract
As a part of the General Accounting Office's review of the Navy's EA-6B aircraft program, GAO examined the procurement of the universal exciters used by this aircraft. The size of the aircraft fleet is a major factor in determining needs for universal exciters. It was found that the number of universal exciters on order is more than the number needed to support the smaller EA-6B fleet and that plans of the Naval Air Systems Command to exercise a $33 million contract option to purchase more universal exciters by January 31, 1989, do not appear to be justified. The universal exciter is part of the system used to jam electronic signals of an adversary. Universal exciters are components of the EA-6B jamming pods that generate jamming signals for the various transmitters also carried in those pods. At the present time 503 universal exciters have been ordered, and the Navy has an option under contract N00019-85-C-0042 to acquire between 46 and 70 units at a price of $471,000 each, or at a total cost ranging from about $22 million to about $33 million. Officials at the Naval Air Systems Command told us that they plan to exercise the option for 70 Additional universal exciters before it expires on January 31, 1989. The additional units would bring the total procurement to 573. the size of the Navy's fleet of EA-6B aircraft is a major factor in determining the number of universal exciters that the Navy needs. Keywords: Turbojet engines, All weather, Electronic countermeasures aircraft, Prowler aircraft.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA202781
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office