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Podcast on DOD Weapons Programs

Posted on May 20, 2015

Each year, we review the Department of Defense’s (DOD) portfolio of major weapons system acquisitions. Our 2015 review was published on March 12th, and this week, we released our podcast on this work.

Listen to Mike Sullivan, a director in GAO’s Acquisition and Sourcing Management team, who recently completed this year's review.

Department of Defense Quick Look

Highlights include that the overall size of the portfolio has decreased by $7.6 billion,  shrinking to the lowest spending levels in a decade. This is partially a result of 2 changes:

  1. ordering fewer Littoral Combat Ships and
  2. shrinking a communications program, the Warfighter Information Network.

Despite the overall cost decrease, this year's Quick Look also showed a decrease in buying power for these programs. The 78 programs collectively lost $2.2 billion in buying power, meaning the DOD must spend more money to buy the same materials and equipment.

Learn more in this blog post, or check out the full report for short summaries of the weapons programs we examined, including photos and stats.


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