Pentagon arms buyer stresses accountability on weapons programs

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/07/pentagon-weapons-idUSL2N0IS1CC20131107



Pentagon arms buyer stresses accountability on weapons programs
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON Thu Nov 7, 2013 11:08am EST

Nov 7 (Reuters) - The Pentagon's chief arms buyer on Thursday emphasized the need for more accountability on weapons programs as the U.S. military struggles to end years of cost overruns and delays on projects such as the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet.

Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said he was continuing to implement a series of changes aimed at improving the Pentagon acquisition system, including giving program managers more authority.

But he said he preferred to focus on managing programs rather than adding more layers of oversight to a system that is already extremely complex and facing greater budget uncertainty than ever before.

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Kendall said Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a $392 billion program that is 70 percent over initial cost estimates, remained the Pentagon's highest priority. He said the program, the U.S. military's costliest, had made sufficient progress to budget for increased production, but more work was needed on software, reliability and a complex logistics system.