Summary: GAO reviewed the Air Force's European Distribution System (EDS), which the Air Force intended to ensure that critical assets would be available at specific European bases during wartime. GAO focused on: (1) system planning and status; (2) potential operational improvements; and (3) lessons to be applied to the development of similar systems in the future.
GAO found that: (1) the system will consist of an automated logistics control system, 3 warehouses, and 18 C-23A aircraft; and (2) in wartime, the system would serve about 100 bases. GAO also found that: (1) the Air Force did not thoroughly plan the system; (2) the system will not be able to serve all of Europe; (3) the C-23A aircraft is too small to carry some cargo, including certain aircraft engines; (4) the Air Force has not followed its inventory stocking criteria; (5) the Air Force might acquire excess storage space for the system; (6) the Air Force did not coordinate its need for the system with other services to permit its most effective use, even though a number of other military facilities are close to system facilities; (7) cost estimates for the system have increased from $120 million to $196 million; and (8) the Air Force simultaneously reprogrammed almost $20 million for the system in increments small enough to escape congressional consent requirements.
