Army Acquisition: Longbow Hellfire Missile Procurement Quantities Significantly Overstated
NSIAD-97-93
Published: May 14, 1997. Publicly Released: May 14, 1997.
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Highlights
GAO reviewed the Army's Longbow Hellfire missile program, focusing on whether the: (1) Army had adequately justified the requirement and quantities of the missile; and (2) missile had successfully demonstrated its requirements during the initial operational testing and evaluation.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress may wish to consider limiting the fiscal year 1998 procurement quantities request to fiscal year 1997 production levels until the Secretary of the Army recalculates the required quantities of Longbow Hellfire and Hellfire II missiles and updates the acquisition strategy for these missiles. | Citing GAO's report, the Congress reduced the Army's fiscal year 1998 procurement request for Hellfire missiles by $20 million. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to reduce Longbow Hellfire missile procurement requirements to reflect the current information on the number of missiles that the Apache can carry, the correct residual readiness computational procedures, and the appropriate Hellfire II to Longbow Hellfire mix ratio. |
The Army reviewed the Hellfire quantity mix and concluded that the total requirement could be reduced by 47 units, or about 0.4 percent.
|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Army to prepare a new procurement strategy that reflects the reduced requirement and recomputed expected cost. |
A revised Hellfire procurement strategy was reflected in the fiscal year 1999 President's budget submission to Congress. It showed a very small reduction in overall procurement quantity but a reduction of 300 missiles for fiscal year 1999.
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Weapons systemsArmy procurementCombat readinessDefense capabilitiesHelicoptersMilitary cost controlMissilesU.S. ArmyMilitary forcesNational security