Becoming a Smarter Buyer

摘要

The sky-high price tag for the fourth satellite in the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) series of secure com-munications satellites underscores the need for better planning in the procurement of operational space systems, especially with the Pentagon under tremendous pressure to trim costs.In December, the Air Force modified Lockheed Martin's AEHF con-tract to cover full-scale production of the fourth satellite. The $1.3 bil-lion modification, combined with the cost of ordering long-lead com-ponents and other work, brought the total contract value for the fourth satellite to $1.7 billion.