Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Medium Range System Components Do Not Fit
NSIAD-91-2
Published: Mar 25, 1991. Publicly Released: Apr 04, 1991.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the joint-service Medium-Range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program and the effects of the Advance Tactical Air Reconnaissance System (ATARS) and the Joint Service Imagery Processing System in determining why the ATARS payload would not fit in Medium-Range UAV.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress should closely monitor DOD efforts to solve the problem and oppose any funding requests which do not preserve commonality goals. | Congress funded the Medium-Range UAV Program, but stressed to DOD the importance of achieving commonality in UAV programs. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the solution to the payload fit problem preserves the commonality goals of the Medium-Range UAV, ATARS, and Joint Services Imagery Processing System programs. |
Medium-Range UAV was redesigned to accommodate ATARS and thus preserve commonality goals. An accomplishment report will be prepared.
|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should require the services to obtain advance written concurrence or nonconcurrence for proposed changes in separately developed interrelated programs from program offices to ensure that integration problems such as the Medium-Range UAV/ATARS fit problem do not occur in future programs. |
The new DOD instruction requires that the lead DOD component developing an item create mutual agreements and procedures for the configuration management of an item.
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Topics
Aerial photographyAircraft componentsInteragency relationsUnmanned aerial systemsMilitary aircraftMilitary procurementProgram managementMilitary forcesAircraft acquisition programGlobal positioning system