Defense Industry

Issues Concerning Five Weapon Systems Provided or Developed by McDonnell Douglas Corporation Gao ID: T-NSIAD-92-1 October 3, 1991

Several weapon systems involving the McDonnell Douglas Corporation have experienced significant technical or production problems and often major cost increases. This testimony examines issues associated with the A-12 Avenger medium attack aircraft, C-17 transport aircraft, T-45 Goshawk trainer aircraft, the Apache helicopter, and the Longbow Apache helicopter. Problems with the A-12 were of such magnitude that the Defense Department cancelled the program. The A-12, the C-17, and the T-45 involve cost overruns in their fixed price development contracts. On these three contracts the combined overrun has been estimated to reach as high as $2.7 billion. The Apache helicopter is a mature system that has been plagued with technical and logistical problems not yet resolved, even though the system has been in production since 1982. Lessons learned from the Apache, if properly applied to the development of the Longbow, could prevent a recurrence of those technical and logistics problems.



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