United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2006-03-15 monographic deposited born digital 41 p. GA 1.13:GAO-06-447 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-447 P0b002ee18038b68f f:d06447 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-447 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-447 GAO-06-447 Cost analysis Cost overruns Defense procurement Lessons learned Military aircraft Performance appraisal Procurement planning Procurement practices Schedule slippages Weapons research and development Unmanned aerial vehicles Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Gnat 750 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems Program Other Written Product A49159

Through 2011, the Department of Defense (DOD) plans to spend $20 billion to significantly increase its inventory of unmanned aircraft systems, which are providing new intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike capabilities to U.S. combat forces--including those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite their success on the battlefield, DOD's unmanned aircraft programs have experienced cost and schedule overruns and performance shortfalls. Given the sizable planned investment in these systems, GAO was asked to review DOD's three largest unmanned aircraft programs in terms of cost. Specifically, GAO assessed the Global Hawk and Predator programs' acquisition strategies and identified lessons from these two programs that can be applied to the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program, the next generation of unmanned aircraft. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-447/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-447.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-447/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-447.pdf GAO-06-447 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-447 Other Written Product GAO-06-447; Unmanned Aircraft Systems: New DOD Programs Can Learn from Past Efforts to Craft Better and Less Risky Acquisition Strategies; Cost analysis Cost overruns Defense procurement Lessons learned Military aircraft Performance appraisal Procurement planning Procurement practices Schedule slippages Weapons research and development Unmanned aerial vehicles Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Gnat 750 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems Program Title 10 Section 2433 10 U.S.C. 2433 Public Law 106-398