Cost of unmanned aerial vehicle program triples

[The Straight Story]

Cost of unmanned aerial vehicle program triples

By Kathy Gambrell, CongressDaily
Development costs for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle program have tripled as the Defense Department has sought additional capabilities for the aircraft resulting in the production of fewer units than originally planned, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.

House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Curt Weldon, R-Pa., asked GAO to assess the program, which was restructured twice in 2002 to add a Global Hawk B variant.

Under that restructuring, program funding was compressed from 20 years to 10 years and will -- for some years -- triple the UAV's budgetary requirements. The Air Force is expected to seek $750 million in fiscal 2006, three times the amount originally planned for the program, the report said.

Its cost under the original plan in 2001 was $5.3 billion for 63 air vehicles and 14 ground stations. The Global Hawk is manufactured by Northrop Grumman, and the program is managed by the Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center in Ohio.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1204/120704cdam2.htm

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. They must be expecting to "lose" a few more of these soon

Gotta have some replacements in line for after the next "terra incident".




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