Tactical Aircraft: Concurrency in Development and Production of F-22 Aircraft Should be Reduced.
Abstract
Concurrency is broadly defined as the overlap between development and production of a system. The stated rationale for concurrency is to introduce systems in a more timely manner or to fulfill an urgent need, to avoid technology obsolescence and/or to maintain an efficient industrial development/production work force. For measuring the degree of concurrency in this report we used a statutorily required guide issued by the Department of Defense (DOD) in April 1990 for assessing concurrency and associated risk in major acquisition programs. Its measure of concurrency is the amount of initial operational testing and evaluation (JOT&E) completed before entering production of a system. Initial operational tests are field tests intended to demonstrate a system's effectiveness and suitability for military use. IOT&E is a key internal control to ensure that decisionmakers have objective information avallable on a weapon system's performance and to minimize risks of procuring costly and ineffective systems. In the late 1980s, the Congress found that DOD was acquiring a large portion of total program quantities, using the low-rate initial production (LRlP) concept, wIthout successfully completing IOT&E. As a result, legislation was enacted in 1989 to limit LRIP quantities for major systems. The law, 10 U.S.C. 2400, defined LRIP as the minimum production quantity needed to provide production representative articles for IOT&E, establish an initial production base, and permit an orderly increase in the production rate sufficient to lead to full-rate production alter completion of IOT&E.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1995
- Accession Number
- ADA293773
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office