Battlefield Automation

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed weaknesses in the Army's efforts to develop segments of its Tactical Command and Control System, focusing on the: (1) All Source Analysis System; (2) Maneuver Control System; and (3) Common Hardware and Software.

GAO found that: (1) the Army plans to develop a limited All Source Analysis System with the minimum set of features that users need and add features as it develops other versions; (2) the reduced Soviet threat and the availability of existing capabilities similar to the All Source Analysis System have eliminated the need for further procurement of the limited system; (3) although All Source Analysis System equipment can be used to help refine software and system requirements, the Army's unapproved test plan calls for software that does not meet user requirements; (4) the Army spent $155 million to acquire Maneuver Control System equipment that does not meet its requirements; (5) the Army is rushing the Maneuver Control System's development and acquisition process to make a production decision and acquire equipment at the end of fiscal year 1992, even though the revised test and evaluation master plan is not approved and the operational test criteria are not adequately defined; and (6) although the Army cited several reasons to justify acquiring larger, transportable Common Hardware and Software computers and requiring many users that only need the less expensive, portable versions to buy the larger units, the disparity between the $340 million increase in acquisition costs and the logistical and hardware savings, as well as other benefits, does not support the Army's position.

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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