Delays in the U.S. system of fielding new military equipment are worse than at any point in the past, the former head of Air Force weapons buying told House lawmakers Wednesday.
William LaPlante and members of a panel created by the House Armed Services Committee delivered some grim interim findings as it investigates the military’s acquisition programs.
The panel discussed the findings, including the conclusions that the current system is deeply inefficient and appears stuck in an earlier era, a day before Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the committee chairman, is slated to introduce new reform legislation.
“What seems to be happening to us is our ability to deliver things quickly to the warfighter, other than through workarounds like the MRAPs or other ways we’ve done it, is worse than it’s ever been,” LaPlante said, referring to the heavy, mine-resistant vehicles rushed to Iraq to protect against roadside bombs.
In recent years, the military has run up huge tabs and delays on major weapons systems such as the Ford-class aircraft carriers and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is the most expensive procurement program in Pentagon history.
Thornberry is gearing up for another round of reforms after working last year with Sen. John McCain on improvements to the weapons buying system. It would affect about $274 billion in Pentagon spending.
The chairman has said he will focus on the system’s workforce, cumbersome legislative requirements and further restructuring of the Defense Department’s office of Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.
The bill set to be introduced Thursday will be a kind of trial balloon for the effort, Thornberry said, and final legislation could end up in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which the House could finalize this summer.
Rep. Paul Cook, R-Calif., a former Marine infantry officer and Vietnam veteran, said the panel findings show Congress must act immediately to solve the deep problems of acquisition.
“The system we have right now, I swear to God, we would have lost World War II,” Cook said.
