RAH-66 Comanche-The Self-Inflicted Termination: Exploring the Dynamics of Change in Weapons Procurement

Abstract

An intriguing question in weapons acquisition is why some weapons programs' initially designated Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) -collapse after a long development process, resulting in wasted money and expertise. A salient illustration is the RAH-66 Comanche stealth helicopter. For 20 years, the Army designated the RAH-66 an MDAP. Yet, in 2004 the Army decided that the RAH-66 was no longer affordable. What changes led the Service to reverse its position? This study shows that despite the explicit Army posture favoring the program, the Comanche had in fact suffered from an implicit and progressive decrease in support within the Service.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA564477

Entities

People

  • Julien Demotes-mainard

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Defense
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Anti-Tank Missiles
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Helicopters
  • Machine Guns
  • Military Acquisition
  • Military Budgets
  • Military History
  • Procurement
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Surface To Air Missiles
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Theoretical Analysis.