Managing Requirements for Acquisition Program Affordability
Abstract
Over the last ten years, the Army has spent billions of research and development dollars on weapon systems that were ultimately cancelled. A few of the high profile programs include the Future Combat Systems, Crusader howitzer, and the Comanche helicopter. Since 2004, the Army has incurred approximately $3B dollars per year in research and development for cancelled programs. While there are many factors that led to these program cancellations, ambitious performance requirements that demanded maturation of high risk technologies played a significant part in making the programs unaffordable and untimely. Additionally, the current process continues to foster a climate of optimizing each individual weapon s performance requirement, thus driving up cost and sub-optimizing the systems as a whole. Given the upcoming budget constraints of FY12 and beyond, the Army cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the last 10 years. It is vital that the Army effectively and efficiently delivers new capabilities to the force to ensure Combatant Commanders can execute a full range of operations in an uncertain operational environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 14, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA592644
Entities
People
- James O. Winbush Jr.
Organizations
- University of Texas at Austin