Comanche Helicopter

Testing Needs to Be Completed Prior to Production Decisions Gao ID: NSIAD-95-112 May 18, 1995

Under the restructured program to produce the Comanche helicopter, production decisions will be made before operational testing of the Comanche starts, thereby continuing the risky practice of concurrent development and production. Because of the Comanche's high costs and technical risks, GAO believes that the Army should complete operational testing before making decisions on long-lead and low-rate initial production. The Comanche will be a much more expensive helicopter than the one originally justified to Congress. The Comanche's acquisition unit cost has almost tripled in 10 years--from $12.1 million in 1985 to $34.4 million in 1995. Cost and program schedule will again be affected because of the program restructuring. After a decade of developing the Comanche, the Army continues to experience technical difficulties, including software problems, and key aircraft maintainability requirements for the Comanche may not be achievable--calling into question the Comanche's ability to meet its wartime availability requirements and its objective of lower operating and support cost. On the positive side, the program is meeting its goals of reducing maintenance levels and keeping within acceptable limits of overall weight growth for the Comanche.

GAO found that: (1) the past risks associated with the Comanche's development and production will continue under the Army's restructured program; (2) production decisions will be made before operational testing of the Comanche begins and the development phase will be extended beyond fiscal year 2002; (3) the acquisition of six additional aircraft will allow the Army to conduct operational testing before committing funds to any further production decisions; (4) the Comanche's unit costs have tripled in the last 10 years due to program restructuring and a 74-percent decrease in procurement quantities; (5) the Comanche may not meet its wartime availability and operating cost requirements due to technical problems; and (6) the Comanche program is currently meeting its maintenance requirements and weight growth limits.

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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