Light Helicopter Program

Risks Facing the Program Raise Doubts About the Army's Acquisition Strategy Gao ID: NSIAD-89-72 December 23, 1988

GAO reviewed the Army's Light Helicopter (LHX) Program to assess: (1) changes and risks in the program's cost estimates and technology development; (2) changes in the program's acquisition strategy; and (3) the Army's progress toward achieving program goals.

GAO found that: (1) the Army believed that its original LHX performance requirement goals were too demanding; (2) to scale back the program, the Army reduced the total quantity, deleted the LHX utility version, and traded off performance requirements for lower aircraft weight and cost; and (3) the Army's use of flyaway costs to set LHX cost goals did not provide a sound basis for controlling and measuring costs, since such costs did not reflect the full expected cost of an LHX equipped for its primary mission. GAO also found that: (1) to lower LHX research and development costs, the Army chose an acquisition strategy that would eliminate competitive prototype testing and evaluation before contractor selection and full-scale development; and (2) the Army preferred competitive prototyping, but believed that it was not affordable given the limited research and development funds available.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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