Foreign Military Sales

This report provides information on the use of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program in connection with proposed commercial sale of the Airborne Self-Protection Jammer to foreign governments. Although the jammer, including its hardware and software, failed operational testing, the Defense Department's (DOD) decision to allow the sale of the jammer's software through the program does not violate military policy because the sale was approved on the basis of national security and technical concerns. DOD's decision to allow the foreign military sale of the jammer software after it failed operational testing does not raise any U.S. financial liability or national security concerns. Foreign governments remain interested in procuring the jammer, despite the system's testing failure and DOD's subsequent decision to end U.S. production. Their reasons include the following: (1) the jammer will meet each country's operational needs if it performs to agreed-upon design specifications, (2) DOD agreed to provide life-cycle software support services, (3) the jammer is close to being fully integrated on the F-18, and (4) the F-18 was wired for the jammer. Swiss and Finnish officials said that they had not yet received all information on the operational testing process and related documents, which would permit a more informed assessment of the jammer's operational capabilities.

GAO found that: (1) the DOD decision to permit the sale of ASPJ software did not violate its FMS approval policy, since it was based on national security and technical concerns; (2) DOD approval of the sale was not totally consistent with its congressional correspondence on the ASPJ software sale; (3) the proposed sale did not raise any U.S. financial liability or national security concerns, but it may result in contract dispute resolution problems, since foreign governments intend to look to the United States instead of the contractor for relief in cases of system nonconformance; (4) foreign governments are still interested in procuring ASPJ because it will meet each country's operational needs if it performs as designed, DOD will provide life-cycle software support services, and ASPJ is close to being fully integrated on F-18 aircraft; and (5) some countries have not received all requested information on ASPJ operational testing results.