|
|
Article: Procurement woes: Army learns tough lessons from armed helicopter letdown.(ARMY AVIATION)
- Article from:
- National Defense
- Article date:
- July 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 National Defense Industrial Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
ATLANTA -- The Army set out three years ago to acquire a new reconnaissance helicopter in record time. Its goal was to equip a unit with the aircraft within four years by using "commercial-off-the-shelf" proven technologies.
That goal will not be met. Meshing the tried and trusted technologies together proved harder than expected. And it ended up doubling the price tag that the Army initially had estimated for its Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter.
The terms "commercial off the shelf" and the closely related "plug and play" are favorites in PowerPoint presentations at conferences. The premises sound good on paper: buy a commercially available product and ...