Army Modernization The Warfighting Rapid Acquisition Program Needs More Specific Guidance

Abstract

This report responds to your request that we evaluate the Anny's implementation of the Warfighting Rapid Acquisition Program (WRAP). You had expressed some concern about the program's performance and direction in its first 2 years. This report discusses the current status of the program. During congressional testimony in early 1996, the Army Chief of Staff requested funds from Congress to speed up the fielding of urgently needed new technologies to the soldier. The Chief of Staff stressed that Congress and the Army could accelerate the development of new technologies by making funds available more quickly than is normally required in the budget process for new programs. The Army proposed WRAP as a tool that would help jump-start technologies that were still under development but near mg the production phase. These new technologies were being tested in Army experiments designed to support a new warfighting concept called Force Xx'. Force Xx' embodies the Army's vision of how military operations will be carried out in the 21st century and relies heavily on the fielding in the year 2000 of the 4th Infantry Division, the Army's first digitized division. The Army selected technologies slated for WRAP funding from those tested in the Task Force XXI Advanced Warfighting Experiment (AWE),' completed in March 1997 and carried out to support the first digitized division. Congress added $50 million to the Army's fiscal year 1997 budget. The money eventually funded the first 11 WRAP initiatives. However, the House Committee on Appropriations, in its report on the fiscal year 1997 defense appropriations biff, expressed concern that WRAP funds might be used for limited fielding of unbudgeted items that had not competed for funds and would not be affordable in future budgets.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA355738

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accounting
  • Acquisition
  • Combat Support
  • Command And Control
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Congress
  • Control Systems
  • Defense Planning
  • Department Of Defense
  • Fire Control Systems
  • Guidance
  • Radio Equipment
  • Range Finding
  • Situational Awareness
  • Task Forces
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation