Weapon Systems Acquisition: Beyond Business as Usual—Using Leading Practices to Curb Waste and Save Billions , June 9 , 2026
Weapon Systems Acquisition: Beyond Business as Usual—Using Leading Practices to Curb Waste and Save Billions , June 9 , 2026
From the report: "In weapon systems acquisition, waste is not merely about individual overpriced parts; it is the systemic loss of billions of dollars and decades of time. Since 1990, the Department of Defense’s (DOD) costliest weapon programs have wasted billions while often failing to deliver a usable capability to the field. For example, the Army’s Integrated Visual Augmentation program—intended to provide augmented-reality headgear for soldiers for close combat—has yet to deliver operational capability after three different acquisition efforts over the last 8 years. Though the program produced nearly 10,000 units of the first two versions, they do not meet soldiers’ needs and will go into storage, with some potentially used for testing, rather than into the field.
GAO's decades-long body of work on DOD acquisition consistently shows that waste in these programs occurs when they are structured to “fail slow” as DOD pours time and money into efforts that stagnate while global technology accelerates. DOD is incentivized to award massive development contracts and obligate funds quickly to ensure the budget is not “lost” to another program. Success is often measured by money spent, not capability delivered. As a result, the expected time frame for major programs to deliver an initial capability now exceeds 12 years. Every month of delay in a weapon system acquisition program causes a warfighter to rely on aging, less-capable equipment for longer."
Authors - Government Accountability Office (GAO)Related Resources
