Pentagon Streamlines, Speeds up Acquisitions
April 15, 2012
Two months ago, top officers and senior Defense Department officials huddled to discuss a serious matter of national security.
But the meeting was not about Afghanistan, North Korea or even Iran. It was about the requirements for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the centerpiece of DoD's future combat aviation arsenal. The program, launched in the 1990s, has suffered years of delays and billions of dollars in overruns.
The meeting's participants sought to decide if the stealth fighter's requirements were realistic and whether slight modifications could improve cost, schedule and performance. In the end, some changes were made. Whether those alterations solve or mitigate the program's problems remains to be seen.