US military weapons cost overruns in the billions: report

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A survey of major US weapons development programs found an estimated 23 billion dollars in cost overruns and an average two years delay in reaching production, a government report said.

The Government Accountability Office, a congressional audit agency, said that of 23 major weapons program that it reviewed, 10 had already reported cost overruns of greater than 30 percent and production delays of at least a year.

Most of the other programs were still too early in the development cycle to be effectively analyzed, it said.

The report noted that the Pentagon plans to spend 1.3 trillion dollars on weapons development and procurement from 2005 to 2009, 800 million dollars of which still lies ahead.

"If DoD (the Department of Defense)...