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Report: Two years, $2M wasted on warfare system after Navy skips development step

By James LaPorta
The AN/SLQ-32(V) shipboard EW system is designed to provide defense for naval ships by evading detection, detecting other threats and protecting against incoming missiles. Photo by Yasu osugi/Wikimedia
The AN/SLQ-32(V) shipboard EW system is designed to provide defense for naval ships by evading detection, detecting other threats and protecting against incoming missiles. Photo by Yasu osugi/Wikimedia

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The Pentagon's Inspector General has declassified an investigation into the U.S. Navy's Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, finding waste of nearly $2 million and lengthening the acquisition process by about two years with inadequate results.

The report, released Monday, found that the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, managed by the Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems under Naval Sea Systems Command, did not effectively develop and manage electronic warfare capabilities for upgrades to the AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite.

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The system, a shipboard electronic system built by Raytheon, is designed to provide defense for naval ships against early detection, signal analysis, threat warning and missiles. The Block 1B1 and 1B2 upgrades provide "enhanced electronic warfare capabilities to existing and new ship combat systems" for the incremental upgrades planned for the suite.

The Inspector General found the Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems did not effectively develop and manage electronic warfare and electronic support capabilities for Block 2 of the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, which provides "enhanced electronic support capability by upgrading the electronic support antenna and receiver, and an open-combat system."

The report says Navy officials waived a step of the development process, the details of which were redacted from the report before its release, in order to stay on schedule instead of correcting problems before entering initial operational test and evaluation.

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The shortcut resulted in additional costs of $1.8 million to conduct a second phase of initial operational test and evaluation on Block 2, delaying the acquisition schedule by almost two years.

Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems said it will continue to work with the commander for operational test and evaluation force to close the remaining deficiencies, according to the declassified report.

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