Electronic Warfare

The Navy plans to begin low-rate production of new radar warning receivers despite serious flaws in two earlier versions and performance problems that surfaced during testing of the latest version. The receivers developed under the ALR-67(V)3 radar receiver program are designed to sense the signals from hostile radars, provide an audio warning to the pilot, and display the warning information on a video screen in the cockpit. GAO concludes that the Navy risks acquiring a deficient system that may require expensive changes if the receivers are to effectively alert pilots to radar-controlled enemy weapons.

GAO found that: (1) the Navy plans to start low-rate production of the ALR-67(V)3 receiver early in fiscal year 1997 despite numerous performance problems; (2) the premature procurement of earlier models before completion of operational testing led to the deployment of an unsatisfactory system to operational forces that refused to use it, and the storage of newly produced units until they were modified; (3) the ALR-67(V)3 receiver misidentifies threatening and friendly radar, fails to detect tracking radar, and may not be compatible with F/A-18 aircraft radar; (4) the Navy does not know if the receiver is operationally effective and suitable for field use; (5) in response to legislative requirements, the Navy plans to conduct operational testing in late 1996 and early 1997 on production representative receivers to determine potential modifications; and (6) the Navy risks deploying a deficient system that may require extensive modifications and retrofit to achieve adequate performance.

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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