United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-06-04 monographic deposited born digital 32 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-97-156 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-156 P0b002ee180387406 f:ns97156 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-156 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-156 NSIAD-97-156 Advanced weapons systems Air Force procurement Fighter aircraft Defense cost control Cost analysis Future budget projections Military budgets Defense capabilities DOD Quadrennial Defense Review F-22 Aircraft F-16 Aircraft F-15 Aircraft F-18 Aircraft Eagle Aircraft Falcon Aircraft Hornet Aircraft Letter Report NSIAD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Air Force's February 1997 plans to restructure the F-22 program, focusing on the: (1) estimated cost of the restructured program and viability of cost reduction initiatives; (2) planned timing for realization of benefits from initiatives; and (3) criteria for approving initiation and continuation of production.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) GAO's reviews of various weapon system acquisitions have shown that initial program schedules and cost estimates have historically been optimistic and have not often been achieved; (2) the F-22 program is not an exception; (3) further, GAO believes the February 1997 restructuring plan reflects revised costs goals that may be optimistic because: (a) the planned reductions in F-22 production unit costs are greater than those experienced by prior fighter programs; and (b) actions intended to reduce production costs have not been fully defined and validated; (4) GAO's comparison of the projected reduction in F-22 production unit costs with the historical unit costs of the F-15, F-16, and F-18 programs indicates that the F-22 reductions exceed those that have been achieved on these other programs; (5) also, to achieve the overall cost avoidance projected by the Joint Estimate Team, the unit cost of full-rate aircraft must be reduced by 54 percent from the unit cost of the low-rate initial production (LRIP) aircraft instead of by 27.9 percent, as projected before the program restructure; (6) an aspect of cost reduction that has been previously reviewed and should continue to be considered is the potential savings from reducing F-22 performance requirements; (7) Joint Estimate Team members told GAO that, although they considered performance reductions in the study as a means of reducing costs, and that potential reductions had been considered in at least a dozen past reviews, no performance reductions were made as a result of their study; (8) the cost reduction initiatives are not planned to achieve significant net savings until F-22 full-rate production, now planned to begin in fiscal year (FY) 2004; (9) the F-22 cost estimate developed by the Joint Estimate Team and endorsed by the Air Force recognizes unit cost increases of 40 percent in F-22 LRIP aircraft through FY 2003; (10) the program exit criteria that were required before awarding each lot of LRIP aircraft and the first full-rate production contract have been revised as part of the program restructuring; and (11) although aircraft performance parameters are reported in the Selected Acquisition Report and other Air Force and Department of Defense reports, GAO believes specific aircraft performance parameters should be included in the exit criteria for each low-rate initial production lot to: (a) maintain visibility of aircraft* https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-156/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-156.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-156/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-156.pdf GAO/NSIAD-97-156 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-156 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-97-156; Tactical Aircraft: Restructuring of the Air Force F-22 Fighter Program; Advanced weapons systems Air Force procurement Fighter aircraft Defense cost control Cost analysis Future budget projections Military budgets Defense capabilities DOD Quadrennial Defense Review F-22 Aircraft F-16 Aircraft F-15 Aircraft F-18 Aircraft Eagle Aircraft Falcon Aircraft Hornet Aircraft