Cost of unmanned aerial vehicle program triples
Development costs for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle program have tripled as the Defense Department has sought additional capabilities for the aircraft resulting in the production of fewer units than originally planned, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.
House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Curt Weldon, R-Pa., asked GAO to assess the program, which was restructured twice in 2002 to add a Global Hawk B variant.
Under that restructuring, program funding was compressed from 20 years to 10 years and will -- for some years -- triple the UAV's budgetary requirements. The Air Force is expected to seek $750 million in fiscal 2006, three times the amount originally planned for the program, the report said.
Its cost under the original plan in 2001 was $5.3 billion for 63 air vehicles and 14 ground stations. The Global Hawk is manufactured by Northrop Grumman, and the program is managed by the Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center in Ohio.
The report said the Pentagon's desire to add capabilities has increased the unit cost of the program 44 percent since its inception. That has led to space, weight and power constraints for the advanced model.
The changes created gaps between the Global Hawk's requirements and resources available to meet them, according to the report.
"Overall the new plan has increased risks significantly," the report says. The new prototype for the new design has not worked and technologies for advanced sensor payloads remain immature, it said.
GAO recommended the Defense secretary revisit the decision on concurrent development and production of the Global Hawk B, and delay procurement of the variant.
Glenn Lamartin, the Defense Department's director of defense systems, said it would cost roughly $400 million to halt and later restart production of the Global Hawk B, not including the cost to small businesses and vendors. Pentagon officials said the agency's intent is to rapidly field capabilities using "risk management, as opposed to risk avoidance."
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