Research and Development

In response to a congressional request, GAO provided data on the Department of Defense's (DOD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) changes in funding of jet engine research and development (R&D) by comparing expenditures for fiscal years (FY) 1984 and 1988.

GAO found that: (1) in 1988, 54 percent of the military services' total engine R&D funding was for advanced development programs; (2) DOD and NASA spent $443 million in FY 1988 on the National Aerospace Plane and the Air Force Advanced Tactical Fighter Engine programs; (3) funding for jet engine R&D increased 40 percent, from $727 million to $1,020 million, between FY 1984 and 1988, but Navy funding decreased 49 percent over the same period; (4) in FY 1988, the Advanced Tactical Fighter engine and research associated with the Aero-Space Plane accounted for 57 percent of total Air Force funding for jet engine R&D, while funding for the Aerospace Plane accounted for 23 percent of NASA jet engine R&D; (5) expenditures for the Army Light Helicopter engine increased 390 percent between FY 1985 and 1988 and accounted for 81 percent of the Army's total FY 1988 engine R&D funding; (6) the Navy's Jet Engine Component Improvement Program accounted for 60 percent of its FY 1988 jet engine R&D funding; and (7) the number of planned jet-engine-related R&D staff years increased 15 percent between FY 1986 and 1987.