Report
Innovative Development: Global Hawk and DarkStar: Their Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator Program Experience, Executive Summary
Jan 1, 2002
Global Hawk and DarkStar - Transitions Within and Out of the HAE UAV ACTD Program
Format | File Size | Notes |
---|---|---|
PDF file | 4 MB | Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience. |
Note: Many electronic documents posted prior to 2003 are available as chapter PDFs or HTML files linked from the Contents.
Format | List Price | Price | |
---|---|---|---|
Add to Cart | Paperback104 pages | $20.00 | $16.00 20% Web Discount |
Over the past three decades, a number of attempts have been made to develop unmanned aerial vehicles, but many of these efforts have met with suboptimal results. Recently, however, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), in conjunction with the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office, launched an effort — designated the High-Altitude Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Advanced concept Technology Demonstration (HAE UAV ACTD) program — whose objective was to overcome past constraints in UAV development through the use of a new acquisition policy. This report assesses two transitions of the HAE UAV ACTD program — the first from DARPA to Air Force management and the second from an ACTD to a Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) — toward the goal of determining which elements of the program's novel acquisition strategy facilitated these transitions and which engendered problems. The authors found that in aggregate, the innovative acquisition strategy adopted in the HAE UAV ACTD program had a positive effect on program execution in that it successfully attained the program's key goals: demonstrating a new operational concept at a lower cost and in a shorter time frame than would have been possible with a traditional acquisition approach. The program's transition from the ACTD construct to an MDAP, however — although ultimately successful — posed a number of challenges, many of which stemmed directly from its acquisition strategy. To circumvent these problems in the future, the authors recommend that all organizations involved in a program, particularly operational users, be given substantive input into program planning at the earliest possible juncture.
Preface PDF
Figures PDF
Tables PDF
Summary PDF
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments PDF
Acronyms PDF
Chapter One
Introduction PDF
Chapter Two
Transition from DARPA to Air Force Management PDF
Chapter Three
Transition from ACTD to MDAP PDF
Chapter Four
Conclusions PDF
Bibliography PDF
Other Program Documentation PDF
The research described in this report was performed under the auspices of RAND's Project AIR FORCE unit.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation monograph report series. The monograph/report was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph/reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.