Defense Acquisitions: Higher Level DOD Review of Antiarmor Mission and Munitions Is Needed

The Department of Defense (DOD) issued antiarmor munitions master plans beginning in 1985 and updated the plans annually until 1990. These antiarmor plans focused on the Cold War armored threat and on the weapons that would be needed to prevail in a Central European Scenario. Congress expressed concern that the military continued to develop and procure an increasing number of tank-killing weapons at a time when potential adversaries had smaller numbers of armored forces. Congress told DOD to develop an Antiarmor Munitions Master Plan to identify the projected armor threat and the projected quantity of all antiarmor weapons, with the purpose of identifying and eliminating excess anti armor capability. This report reviews the plan to determine if it provides the data and analysis specified in the Fiscal Year 2000 Defense Appropriations conference report and provides data and analysis needed to support the services' current antiarmor acquisition plans. GAO found that DOD's July 2000 Antiarmor Munitions Master Plan did not provide the data and analysis specified in the Fiscal Year 2000 Defense Appropriations conference report. The plan provided limited data and analysis to support the services' current antiarmor acquisition plans. In January 2001, DOD stated that, in anticipation of the Quadrennial Defense Review, the Army had begun several studies and analyses to more clearly define an economically sound and operationally effective mix of munitions.