Program Delays

Inside the Navy is reporting this morning that the family of systems that will replace the canceled EPX program will include a variety of unmanned systems that are already a part of the Navy's program of record, most of which will be fielded around 2019.

In a list of responses to information dominance industry day questions dated April 5, officials listed the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Increment 3, Medium-Range Unmanned Aerial System, Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike and MQ-8B FireScout drones as components in the EPX stew. Further, ITN reports:

"Fire Scout is currently deployed and expected to reach Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in the 1st quarter of [fiscal year 2012]," the document states. "The other systems have proposed IOCs in the 2019 timeframe."

However, a presentation from the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation posted online the same month predicts that Fire Scout will not start initial operational testing and evaluation in September as scheduled. It notes that the program has a single set of shipboard ground control station equipment, and that set is used with ships for military utility assessments.

"If [the] system is not ready for IOT&E before [the] ship sails, IOT&E is further delayed," the slide notes.

But there's more that the ITN article didn't go into. That presentation also states that "program delays are common," adding that "the reasons behind the delays are varied," and can include:

– Problems conducting the test

• Test range availability, test instrumentation problems, and test execution problems

– Performance problems in DT or OT

• System problems identified during testing that must be addressed

– Programmatic

• Funding or scheduling problems

– Manufacturing

• Manufacturing delays or quality control problems