Evaluation of U.S. Air Force Preacquisition Technology Development

摘要

From the days of biplanes and open cockpits, the air forces of the United States have relied on the mastery of technology to ensure what, in 1921, Giulio Douhet called the command of the air. And while the weapons of air warfare have changed, the vital importance of technological superiority to the United States Air Force has not. Although evidence exists--for example, Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports, failed programs, and programmatic breaches in cost, schedule, and technical performance--that the Air Force is currently struggling to incorporate technology in its major systems acquisitions successfully, it is important to note that the path toward technological supremacy has never been a smooth one. Describing the technological travails that he faced 75 years ago while building the early Army Air Corps, General of the Air Force Henry H. (Hap) Arnold told of a reality not unlike that of today: Planes became obsolescent as they were being built. It sometimes took five years to evolve a new combat airplane, and meanwhile a vacuum could not be afforded, I also had trouble convincing people of the time it took to get the bugs out of all the airplanes. Between the time they were designed and the time they could be flown away from the factory stretched several years.