Over the past three decades, a number of attempts have been madeto develop unmanned aerial vehicles, but many of these efforts have met withsuboptimal results. Recently, however, the Defense Advanced ResearchProjects Agency (DARPA), in conjunction with the Defense AirborneReconnaissance Office, launched an effort -- designated the High-AltitudeEndurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Advanced concept Technology Demonstration(HAE UAV ACTD) program -- whose objective was to overcome past constraintsin UAV development through the use of a new acquisition policy. This reportassesses two transitions of the HAE UAV ACTD program -- the first from DARPAto Air Force management and the second from an ACTD to a Major DefenseAcquisition Program (MDAP) -- toward the goal of determining which elementsof the program's novel acquisition strategy facilitated these transitionsand which engendered problems. The authors found that in aggregate, theinnovative acquisition strategy adopted in the HAE UAV ACTD program had apositive effect on program execution in that it successfully attained theprogram's key goals: demonstrating a new operational concept at a lower costand in a shorter time frame than would have been possible with a traditionalacquisition approach. The program's transition from the ACTD construct to anMDAP, however -- although ultimately successful -- posed a number ofchallenges, many of which stemmed directly from its acquisition strategy. Tocircumvent these problems in the future, the authors recommend that allorganizations involved in a program, particularly operational users, begiven substantive input into program planning at the earliest possiblejuncture.

Innovative Development : Global Hawk and DarkStar- Transitions Within and Out of the HAE UAV ACTD Program (2002) PDF

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