Looking into why the Defense Department didn’t provide an evaluation of alternatives with other documents concerning the Missile Defense Agency’s Precision Tracking Space System (PTSS) the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found DoD proposed canceling the program in November–before the law mandating the analysis was signed into law.
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| PTSS Image: Missile Defense Agency |
PTSS was to be a satellite system equipped with infrared sensors that track ballistic missiles through the heat they throw off. The planned satellite system included a constellation of nine satellites spaced around the earth’s equator.
Several activities are under way now reviewing missile defense sensor options, GAO auditors said.
For example, the report said the Missile Defense Executive Board tasked CAPE and MDA to develop an approach to upgrade and field existing sensor technologies. Also, U.S. Strategic Command and MDA are conducting a separate study on missile defense sensor needs. And, MDA continues to assess benefits of space systems and related technologies.
DoD expects to complete some of the studies efforts to be able to inform internal DoD FY 2015 budget decisions.
As mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (NDAA) GAO looked into the evaluation of alternatives and terms of reference for the congressional defense committees.
GAO found DoD submitted a terms of reference and a report on a 2012 DoD Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) program review but did not “provide for or include” an evaluation of alternatives for PTSS as required by the NDAA for fiscal year 2013, though it did submit a terms of reference and a report on a 2012 DoD Director for Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) review.
In addition, the report, GAO-13-747-R, said the terms of reference were approved by the Missile Defense Executive Board but not in coordination with the Defense Space Council as required by the act.
GAO said it learned from senior DoD officials that the Secretary of Defense decided to propose canceling the PTSS program in November 2012–before the NDAA for FY 13 was signed, based on a CAPE review of PTSS initiated in 2011.
That 2011 review was completed in the fall of 2012 and “determined that the PTSS program had significant technical, programmatic and affordability risks,” the report said. Thus senior defense officials suggested a series of options to DoD leaders and so the Secretary of Defense decided to propose canceling the program. In April, the cancellation decision was made official in the FY 2014 President’s budget.
In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee July 17, MDA Director Vice Adm. James Syring said DoD terminated PTSS, because “concurrency in the development schedule and uncertainty in the cost estimates put in doubt long-term fiscal sustainability. Moreover the PTSS acquisition strategy was high risk.”
Additionally, CAPE officials told GAO auditors that although the report to Congress didn’t include an alternatives assessment, they determined based on initial analysis in 2012 that “other systems could potentially satisfy many of the PTSS performance objectives.” But, officials said, that analysis was not completed before the decision was made to propose cancelling PTSS.
MDA has long said space-based sensors provide the most cost-effective and operationally suitable means for global persistent surveillance of ballistic missiles.
While MDA believes it needs infrared discrimination from space, without PTSS, “we can address the threat with other land-based sensors in key locations” supporting warfighters, Syring said.
The cancelled PTSS program’s acquisition approach was for the government and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to perform initial development, followed by a competitive procurement.
The program office was established in 2009. Plans had been to have a preliminary design review this fall, followed by an open competition for a fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014 industry manufacturing and production contract. Launching the two lab development satellites was planned for the summer of 2017.
As the technical lead of the development team, APL awarded contracts to six companies in the summer of 2011 to form a Manufacturing and Production Readiness Integrated System Engineering Team: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. [BLL], Boeing [BA], Lockheed Martin [LMT] Space Systems, Northrop Grumman [NOC] Aerospace Systems, Orbital Sciences [ORB], and Raytheon [RTN].