Status of Army Efforts Concerning a Rotary Wing Escape System

GAO was asked to determine what actions the Army has taken concerning a rotary wing escape system since a previous review on the subject in July 1980.

GAO found that, since its previous review of the subject, a Joint Services Working Group has been established to oversee a study of the cost and operational effectiveness of the system. After its first meeting, the Group decided that the study would be done by the Army's Training and Doctrine Command rather than under a contract outside the Government. Subsequently, the Army directed the Training and Doctrine Command to prepare an outline of the study for review by March 1981. One week later, the Training and Doctrine Command asked to be relieved of this responsibility. In its request for relief, the Command stated that, due to other planned priority tasks, it could not begin such a study for almost a year. The Army has subsequently agreed to the postponement of the study and told the command to schedule the study as early as possible in its 1982 fiscal year program.