Army Armored Systems: Advanced Field Artillery System Experiences Problems with Liquid Propellant
NSIAD-95-25
Published: Nov 02, 1994. Publicly Released: Nov 02, 1994.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
GAO reviewed the Army's Advance Field Artillery System (AFAS) program, focusing on the: (1) status of the AFAS liquid propellant (LP) gun; (2) nature and extent of any problems experienced during testing; and (3) Army's plans for proceeding with the development of the system.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Army continues the concurrent development of the unicharge gun until the LP gun technology has been successfully demonstrated in live-fire tests. |
The Army's current acquisition plan includes concurrent development of a unicharge gun during the AFAS demonstration and validation phase. The Army believes that it will have enough information available after 2 years to decide whether to proceed with LP or the unicharge gun.
|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Army postpones AFAS system integration until it makes a decision on whether to proceed with the LP or unicharge gun. |
The Army's new AFAS acquisition plan provides 2 years before the contractor is allowed to integrate the system. The Army believes that this amount of time is sufficient to determine whether the LP gun is feasible. As stated above, the Army plans to decide on whether to proceed with the LP or the unicharge gun at the end of the 2-year period.
|
| Department of Defense | If a decision is made to proceed with the LP gun, the Secretary of Defense should independently verify that problems concerning the LP burning process have been fully resolved and that the Army has developed an ignition system that will allow the gun to meet its rate-of-fire requirement of 10 to 12 rounds per minute for 3 to 5 minutes. |
OSD believes that the current exit criteria for the AFAS program's entry into engineering and manufacturing development provides sufficient assessment of the Army's ability to meet the AFAS system's ultimate requirements. However, OSD will retain the option to conduct an independent verification if OSD later determines it would be appropriate.
|
Full Report
Public Inquiries
Topics
Weapons systemsAgency missionsAmmunitionArmy procurementDefense budgetsDefense capabilitiesFirearmsMission budgetingSystems evaluationTesting