Air Force’s New Aerial Spy System Is Ill-Defined, GAO Says

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Air Force’s plan to replace its primary air-to-ground surveillance aircraft with a family of sensors for aviators, sailor and soldiers is risky and ill-defined so far, according to congressional auditors.

The Pentagon’s cost assessment office found that it’s “a high-risk effort and the Air Force has not provided sufficient programmatic detail,” the Government Accountability Office revealed in a report released Thursday.

As a result, the Pentagon office “could not conclude that the Air Force would be able to overcome the cost, schedule, and performance challenges” experienced in past programs, the GAO said in a congressionally mandated review of the proposed Advanced Battle Management System, or ABMS.

The system is intended to replace the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System, or Jstars, first used in the 1991 Gulf War.

The GAO received the Pentagon assessment in January as part of its review and came to similar conclusions.

‘Greater Risk’

“Our previous work has shown that weapon systems without a sound business case are at greater risk for schedule delays, cost growth, and integration issues,” it said.

While “Congress has kept a close eye” on the program, the GAO said lawmakers would benefit from future briefings focusing on “missing business case elements,” said as technologies considered candidates for the project and the system’s potential costs.

In response, Air Force officials told the GAO that their approach to developing the new system “will avoid these past challenges because only mature technologies will be integrated” and the service “is expected to frequently evaluate development progress.”

General David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, said in an interview that he saw criticism of plans for the new system, such as GAO’s report, as an “absolute opportunity.”

“If we can’t explain it” and don’t incorporate relevant Army, Navy and Marine Corps technologies, “then we ought to be held accountable -- absolutely accountable,” he said. “I want to get this right.”

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