WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A new report from the Pentagon inspector general says the Army has deployed six weapon systems with "critical" flaws that may have not been fixed yet.
The Oct. 12 report says two of the programs with critical flaws were approved for deployment because of urgent need -- the Patriot PAC-3 missile defense system in September 2002, and the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System in February 2004.
AFATDS is a fire support tool that helps commanders determine which is the best weapon system to attack a given target, optimizing the use of mortars, field artillery, cannon, missile, attack helicopters, air support and naval gunfire.
According to the report, the AFATDS software version released in 2004 was not interoperable with the Army Battle Command System, the overarching automated battlefield command and control system. The system also failed to detect coordination requirements from command and control units.
In a follow up report issued a year after the AFATDS deployment, the Army program manager did not indicate whether those problems had been fixed.
PAC-3 did not meet maintainability and reliability requirements during operational testing, meaning it was down for maintenance more often than specifications called for, and maintenance took longer than planned. PAC-3 had a total of 17 "critical deficiencies" but was deployed anyway. Only one of them is documented as having been fixed, a problem with its identification friend or foe system.
Four other programs have been deployed with deficiencies -- Forward Area Air Defense Command, Control and Intelligence System, Secure Mobile Anti Jam Reliable Tactical Terminal, Bradley Fighting Vehicle System and the Javelin, according to the report.
"Army milestone decision authorities must keep informed of the program manager's progress toward resolving these issues to have assurance that warfighters are provided weapon systems that satisfy their operational requirements. If the system performance deficiencies do not get corrected before production and fielding of large quantities of units program mangers can incur extensive retrofit costs to modify fielded systems," the report states.
