Electronic Warfare

Test Results Do Not Support Buying More Common Sensor Systems Gao ID: NSIAD-98-3 March 24, 1998

Test results do not support the continued production of the electronic warfare common sensor. The Army postponed operational testing that was to demonstrate the sensor's effectiveness and suitability under realistic combat conditions. Although the Army substituted a less-rigorous developmental testing, it revealed that the system is plagued by serious hardware and software problems. Moreover, fiscal year 1996 tests of the sensor on a Marine Corps vehicle found serious problems, including inaccurate identification of the direction of hostile communication systems by as much as 100 degrees. Although the Army plans to conduct additional research and development work on the sensor, in the interim, it still plans to contract for five more systems while trying to correct the problems. Finally, despite the sensor's many problems, the Marine Corps has joined with the Army and is procuring two sensor systems.

GAO noted that: (1) test results now available do not support continued IEWCS production; (2) the Army postponed operational testing scheduled for fiscal year (FY) 1997 that was to demonstrate IEWCS operational effectiveness and suitability in a realistic combat environment; (3) the Army replaced operational testing with less-rigorous developmental testing, which showed that the system has serious hardware and software problems; (4) furthermore, FY 1996 tests of IEWCS on a Marine Corps vehicle showed that the Marine Corps' IEWCS prototype also has serious problems, including inaccurately identifying the direction to hostile communication systems by as much as 100 degrees; (5) although the Army plans to conduct additional research and development work on IEWCS, in the interim, it still intends to contract for five more systems while trying to correct the problems; and (6) despite the IEWCS system's many problems, the Marine Corps has joined with the Army and is procuring two IEWCS systems.

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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