Tactical Fighter Aircraft
Differences Between the Air Force's Roadmap and the Five Year Defense Plan Gao ID: NSIAD-90-262 August 30, 1990Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed information on the Tactical Fighter Roadmap's force structure and possible cuts in tactical forces included in the President's budget request and supporting Department of Defense (DOD) Five-Year Defense Plan.
GAO found that: (1) the Tactical Air Command (TAC) developed and revised the roadmap based on threat considerations, force structure positions, and fiscal constraints; (2) the roadmap was a plan to modernize tactical forces over the next 10 years and to identify and acquire the number and type of aircraft needed; (3) since there was no official guidance on roadmap development, TAC updated the roadmap when there were significant budget changes or when they agreed on aircraft force structure changes; (4) fiscal constraints limited the total number of aircraft in the force; (5) TAC used the roadmap to brief congressional committees during the budget process; and (6) the roadmap's projected force and procurement plans for fiscal years 1990 and 1991 closely coincided with those in the DOD 5-year plan.