Summary: GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) simulator program, specifically the: (1) need for the armed services to avoid paying for the development of duplicate simulators; and (2) acquisition of simulators which misrepresent Soviet threat systems.
GAO found that: (1) the armed services are paying for multiple development of simulators for emitter-receiver processors (ERP) and emitters; (2) total ERP development costs exceeded $560 million, while emitter program costs exceeded $600 million; (3) a perceived lack of authority within DOD for managing the services' simulator programs and the services' desire to control their separate programs contributed to multiple ERP development; and (4) the Joint Executive Committee on Air Defense Threat Simulators and its agent committee have attempted to develop cooperation among the services without much success. GAO also found that: (1) 35 of 46 simulators it examined deviated substantially from estimates of the threat characteristics and affected system range, accuracy, and resistance to countermeasures; and (2) the services were accepting deficient simulators without review by or approval from potential users.
