By Marina Malenic
The armed services are heeding a call from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to institute specialized oversight boards for each major weapons program in development to keep program managers from making unnecessary and costly requirements changes midstream.
A July 30, 2007, memo from the Pentagon’s chief acquisition officer, John Young, directed the military services to form Configuration Steering Boards (CSBs) for major programs in development. In the document, Young instructs the services to avoid changing weapon systems’ requirements unnecessarily, thereby keeping costs and schedules on track. According to Young’s vision as laid out in the memo, the boards would be able to reject changes that are not linked to “identified funding.”
The Army, for example, is poised to schedule a CSB review for its Multiple Launch System (MLRS) Alternative Warhead Program, according to an Army source.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] currently produces two MLRS variants–one with a unitary warhead and satellite-guided precision capability; and the cluster variant, known as the Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM). The Army earlier this year approved the requirement for an Alternative Warhead Program for the DPICM variant. Program managers have said they intend to conduct competitive prototyping before awarding a contract, with CSB oversight ensuring good business practices (Defense Daily, July 14).
Earlier this summer, the Army’s first CSB review examined the AH-64 Apache Block III helicopter program.
According to an Army aviation official, the board found the program to be in good health, with the exception of concerns about the developmental communications system it is set to rely on.
Next-generation Apaches are expected to form a communications network with ground forces using the Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS), which is being designed to provide all the services with secure voice, video and digital data transmission capability. The multibillion dollar program–in development for over a decade–has experienced numerous cost overruns.
If JTRS is not ready to meet the Apache Block III schedule for 2011 deliveries, Army officials tell Defense Daily that “alternative solutions” will be considered.
“It comes as no surprise, I’m sure, that a lot of programs that rely on these comms are going to have to use some ingenuity when the time comes,” the official said.
According to another official, the Navy put its DDG-1000 destroyer program through a CSB review.
“The initial requirement was to shoot 12 rounds a minute,” the official explained, “but that requirement would have led to the need for a very expensive autoloader for that gun.” By working with the CSB, the parameters were changed to 10 rounds per minute.
“And that didn’t diminish the capability significantly,” the source added.
At press time, Air Force officials were not available for comment on how their service is handling the new CSB instructions.