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Over Budget, Behind Schedule and Delivering Less Than Promised

April 29, 2008 11:22 AM

That's the conclusion of a GAO report that took a look at some of the most important and costly defense department acquisition projects.  Staffers working for Rep. Henry Waxman's Oversight and Government Reform Committee looked at just one project, the MARINE CORPS EFV amphibious tank.  They reviewed 55,000 pages of documents.  This what they found.

The Marine Corps EFV amphibious tank is supposed to carry up to "18 COMBAT-READY MARINES at high speeds on both land and sea, have advanced communications capabilities, provide increased armored protection against rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices, and deliver lethal firepower up to 2,000 meters."

But during crucial tests in November of 2006, the EFV could operate only 4.5 hours BETWEEN BREAKDOWNS, completed only TWO of ELEVEN amphibious tests, only ONE of TEN gunnery tests and because it was SO HEAVY, armor had to be removed from it and marines had to leave some of their equipment behind in order to make the vehicle work at high speeds in water.   The Waxman report says that during the 2006 tests, the EFV's weapons system failed "with the AMMUNITION FEED JAMMING and crews "UNABLE TO IDENTIFY ARMORED VEHICLE TARGETS."

Following the tests, the Defense Department gave EFV contractor GENERAL DYNAMICS another $143 MILLION for a redesign and told the committee just this month that taxpayers would have to spend another $700 MILLION to $800 MILLION to do another "system development and demonstration" test.

In 2000, DOD estimated that it would be able to buy 1,025 EFVs at a total cost of $8.4 BILLION.  Now the pentagon says it will buy only 593 vehicles at a cost of $13.2 BILLION.

April 29, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

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