Army Modernization: Better Schedule and Cost Information Needed to Support Scaling Battlefield Network

Filed 6d ago · Via GAO · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Evil March

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Marjory Collins · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

A GAO review found the Army's two battlefield network modernization efforts — the near-term Command and Control Fix and the longer-term Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) — lack detailed schedule and long-term cost estimates. That gap puts the Army's tentative goal of fielding NGC2 across the entire service by fiscal 2032 at risk.

GAO credits the Army with some sound practices, including a flexible acquisition approach incorporating user feedback, but says the Army has skipped other key elements needed to judge whether NGC2 can actually scale. Without cost and schedule data, GAO notes, neither the Army nor Congress can make informed decisions about how to proceed.

GAO issued two recommendations: develop a detailed fielding schedule and estimate total NGC2 costs, then reassess both regularly as the program evolves. The Defense Department concurred and says the Army is taking steps to comply.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Building a next-generation network to survive modern warfare while skipping the paperwork on what it costs or when it shows up is a peculiar definition of modernization. Concurring with the recommendation is easy; producing the schedule is the part that has apparently been optional so far.

Source: Read the original at GAO → Scored: Evil March · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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