Antiarmor Weapons Acquisitions

Since the Soviet threat has diminished, the Pentagon has not done enough analyses of its antiarmor needs and alternative capabilities to meet mission needs. The Defense Department's (DOD) acquisition regulations provide guidance for preparing the needed analyses at key milestones. Many of the systems, however, have not had a milestone review since the threat changed. Generally, the military services' latest detailed analyses supporting the need for current acquisitions were still based on defeating Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces. Although the services use the annual budget reviews to consider threat changes and conduct informal analyses and special studies of the continued need for antiarmor acquisitions, these budget reviews do not generally include analyses that are required for major milestones. GAO's review of analyses prepared for milestone decision points since the 1991 revision to the DOD acquisition regulations found that the services generally have not assessed whether their needs could be met by weapon systems with other missions or from other services. In addition, the services have not, as required, assessed the affordability of major acquisitions through the end of procurement. As a result, the military lacks reasonable assurances that the systems to be acquired are needed and affordable.

GAO found that: (1) since the Soviet threat has diminished, DOD has failed to sufficiently analyze its antiarmor needs and the alternative capabilities to meet mission requirements; (2) DOD acquisition regulations require milestone reviews for continuing antiarmor system procurements, however, many systems have not had reviews since the changes in threat; (3) during annual budget reviews, the services consider changes in threat and address the continued need for new antiarmor acquisitions, but budget decisions are frequently undocumented and based upon less rigorous analyses than milestone reviews; (4) DOD analyses often failed to consider antiarmor deployability, alternative capabilities, and the possible duplication of other weapons systems; (5) the services have not assessed the long-term affordability of major acquisitions through the end of the procurement; and (6) DOD has not issued guidance or formal procedures to implement and enforce regulations requiring affordability assessments.

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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