Weapons Codevelopment

U.S. National Issues in the MLRS Terminal Guidance Warhead Program Gao ID: NSIAD-92-55 April 21, 1992

GAO reviewed the Army's Multiple Launch Rocket System Terminal Guidance Warhead program to determine how U.S. national interests are being protected. The program is a multinational cooperative development effort begun under a 1983 Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. This report discusses the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding and other arrangements on cost share/work share, technology transfer, data rights, termination provisions, financial arrangements, and third-country transfers. Some of these factors should be considered in deciding whether to continue the program and in negotiating future Memorandums of Understanding.

GAO found that: (1) although the United States is to pay 40 percent of the MLRS TGW development cost and France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are each to pay 20 percent, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) limited the U.S. development work share under the prime contract to a maximum of 34 percent; (2) the development tasks assigned to the United States had a relative quality value of 22.8 percent of the total quality development work, lowest of the four participating countries; (3) if the Department of Defense (DOD) wants to apply MLRS TGW limited rights data to other weapons development programs, contractors may require payment of nonrecurring fees or recurring royalties for use of the data; (4) if the United States withdrew and the other partner nations decided to continue, the United States would be obligated to continue paying its share for 270 days; (5) the exchange rates and the economic baseline for the MLRS TGW development program are still valued using 1984 exchange rates, but in December 1990, the partner nations agreed to adjust the rates when the program enters the maturation or full-scale development stage, which is projected for 1993; (6) third-country transfer provisions that allow partner nations to transfer technical data without the approval of the United States or other partner nations may not adequately protect U.S. interests; and (7) the Microwave Millimeter Wave Monolithic Integrated Circuit (MIMIC), a separate U.S. development effort, could be affected by the MOU provision requiring the United States to transfer design and manufacturing technology to the partner countries, but project officials intend to require a waiver of those provisions before MIMIC is introduced.

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.

Director: Team: Phone:


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.