Presidential Helicopter Acquisition: Effort Delayed as DOD Adopts New Approach to Balance Requirements, Costs, and Schedule.

摘要

In June 2009, the Department of Defense (DOD) terminated the Navy s VH-71 presidential helicopter acquisition program because of cost growth, schedule delays, and a projected shortfall in system performance. The Navy subsequently began efforts to define a follow-on program (the VXX program) to develop aircraft to replace the current, aging presidential helicopter fleet. The Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (the act) directed that we review and report annually to the congressional defense committees on the VXX program through 2013. We issued the first of the required reports last year. In that report, we identified major lessons learned from the terminated VH-71 program that should be applied to the follow-on program and discussed the VXX acquisition approach and the sufficiency of the underlying acquisition plans and related documentation. This is the second of the required GAO reports. It discusses (1) the progress of the program since our last report and (2) DOD s planned upgrades to the fleet of in-service, legacy helicopters and approach for moving the VXX program forward.