By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Congressional auditors have raised grave doubts about a roughly $160-billion U.S. Army modernization program led by Boeing Co and Science Applications International Corp, an online trade publication said on Friday.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office questioned the program, known as Future Combat Systems, from its technological maturity level to its ability to stick to budget, said InsideDefense.com, citing what it called sources familiar with a draft of the document.
The FCS program aims to stitch together a family of advanced ground and air vehicles, robots, indirect fire weapons and sensors.
Advocates of restructuring or cutting back on the flagship Army modernization effort will find ammunition in the draft report, InsideDefense.com said.
'In it, GAO asserts that FCS is 'unlikely to be executed' for the $159 billion the Army says it will cost,' it reported, citing a source with access to the draft.
The draft refers to 'actual immaturity' in the program, and calls its network performance 'largely unproven,' the trade publication said. It quoted a source as saying GAO found the Army had failed to demonstrate that FCS designs will meet their requirements.
In response, a Boeing spokesman, John Morrocco, cited what he called an independent Army assessment that 35 of the program's 44 'critical technologies' were at the required maturity level.
'The remainder are on track to reach that level by the summer,' he said. 'This is a level of progress that will enable the Army to push effective technology to the soldiers sooner than initially planned.'
Paul Mehney, the chief Army spokesman for the program, added that FCS 'is where we said it would be at this particular point.' An SAIC spokesman, Regen Wilson, had no immediate comment.
Chuck Young, a GAO spokesman, declined to discuss the draft report but said it would be made public on Thursday, March 12.
The criticism comes at a crunch time for the Army, when it is fighting for funds in the detailed fiscal 2010 budget due to be sent to Congress by President Barack Obama on April 21.
The report has been submitted to the Army for comment. 'Sources familiar with the report stress that it may be modified or toned down based on the Pentagon's official response,' InsideDefense.com said.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Tim Dobbyn) Keywords: BOEING SAIC/USA (jim.wolf@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8402; Reuters Messaging: jim.wolf.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Congressional auditors have raised grave doubts about a roughly $160-billion U.S. Army modernization program led by Boeing Co and Science Applications International Corp, an online trade publication said on Friday.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office questioned the program, known as Future Combat Systems, from its technological maturity level to its ability to stick to budget, said InsideDefense.com, citing what it called sources familiar with a draft of the document.
The FCS program aims to stitch together a family of advanced ground and air vehicles, robots, indirect fire weapons and sensors.
Advocates of restructuring or cutting back on the flagship Army modernization effort will find ammunition in the draft report, InsideDefense.com said.
'In it, GAO asserts that FCS is 'unlikely to be executed' for the $159 billion the Army says it will cost,' it reported, citing a source with access to the draft.
The draft refers to 'actual immaturity' in the program, and calls its network performance 'largely unproven,' the trade publication said. It quoted a source as saying GAO found the Army had failed to demonstrate that FCS designs will meet their requirements.
In response, a Boeing spokesman, John Morrocco, cited what he called an independent Army assessment that 35 of the program's 44 'critical technologies' were at the required maturity level.
'The remainder are on track to reach that level by the summer,' he said. 'This is a level of progress that will enable the Army to push effective technology to the soldiers sooner than initially planned.'
Paul Mehney, the chief Army spokesman for the program, added that FCS 'is where we said it would be at this particular point.' An SAIC spokesman, Regen Wilson, had no immediate comment.
Chuck Young, a GAO spokesman, declined to discuss the draft report but said it would be made public on Thursday, March 12.
The criticism comes at a crunch time for the Army, when it is fighting for funds in the detailed fiscal 2010 budget due to be sent to Congress by President Barack Obama on April 21.
The report has been submitted to the Army for comment. 'Sources familiar with the report stress that it may be modified or toned down based on the Pentagon's official response,' InsideDefense.com said.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Tim Dobbyn) Keywords: BOEING SAIC/USA (jim.wolf@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8402; Reuters Messaging: jim.wolf.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.