GAO highlights the need for more commercial data and availability improvements
The JLTV achieved the highest level of availability. (Photo: US Army)
The US Government Accountability Office recently released two reports; one into the availability of selected equipment and another looking at how the government gets data and intellectual property rights through contracting.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has noted a failure of the US Department of Defense (DoD) to get detailed equipment data from manufacturers included in contracts. It has also revealed that the force’s vehicle fleet is failing to meet availability rates.
The organisation stated in its recently released Weapon System Sustainment: Various Challenges Affect Ground Vehicles’ Availability for Missions report that since FY2015, mission capable rates have declined for 16 of the 18 US Army and US Marine Corps (USMC) ground vehicles.
In its Weapon System Sustainment: DoD Can Improve Planning and Management of Data Rights report, meanwhile, the GAO argued that
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