Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
9/4/2015
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) last week sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter expressing concern over the Department of Defense’s (DoD) “unacceptable” errors in estimating the 10-year cost of the Air Force’s Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) aircraft. The Air Force in its annual report last year projected the nuclear-capable bomber’s cost for fiscal years 2015-2025 at $33.1 billion, then spiked that to $58.4 billion this year for 2016-2026. It later said the actual expense for each period would be $41.7 billion, the letter notes. Last week, Air Force Secretary Deborah James called the series of cost estimate errors “a regrettable mistake” that “occurred in part because of human error.”
“Such dramatic discrepancies in the long-term cost estimation for the LRS-B program are difficult to understand, and unfortunately do not inspire confidence about the Department’s management of this important acquisition program,” McCain and Reed said in their letter. They requested “amended reports” with corrected estimates, an explanation for the error and the 21% cost estimate increase between the two annual reports, a justification for the final estimate, and a “detailed assessment of impacts to the LRS-B program of the increased cost estimates.”
“To commit administrative errors amounting to tens of billions of dollars is simply unacceptable,” the letter says. “It cannot, and should not, be tolerated by either members of Congress or our defense leaders.”
In a prepared statement on Thursday, the Pentagon said “The Department has received the letter from Senators McCain and Reed and will respond promptly and directly to them. We appreciate their concerns on this issue.”
