Download or read book Termination of the Joint Strike Fighter Alternate Engine Program written by Maren L. Calvert and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "For the past several decades, the Department of Defense (DOD) and Congress have been working to design and build a joint strike fighter (JSF). Congress intended from the outset that two engines would be designed for the single-engine aircraft, to create competition, keep costs low, and ensure contractor responsiveness. Congress and DOD, however, did not share a common understanding of how the "competition" would be structured. The result was not an engine competition, but rather a fully-funded second (or alternate) engine program (the "Program"). When budgets grew tight and Congress capped JSF spending - meaning every dollar spent on the duplicative engine was a dollar that could not be spent on buying JSF aircraft - DOD recommended terminating the Program in fiscal year 2007. Congress recoiled at the idea claiming that it threatened national security and that premature termination of the Program would make it impossible to recoup the $3.6 billion already spent on the alternate engine. For four years, the issue was debated through dozens of congressional hearings, with the Pentagon disclaiming the alternate engine and Congress ultimately deciding to fund it anyway. What went wrong? Neither Congress nor DOD recognized the fundamental disconnect in their understanding of "competition." DOD did not see a fully-funded second engine as a competition (and truly, it was not). Congress, on the other hand, wanted to have two engines available for purchase to avoid a single point of failure in our national security. Congress, therefore, wanted to create competition in the market place. Unfortunately, neither party recognized this disconnect or fully capitalized on the tools of congressional oversight to correct it."--Abstract.