The Defense Department plans to invest more than $2.4 trillion to develop and acquire its costliest weapon systems, yet these programs consistently miss deadlines and exceed budgets, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress. The report published June 9, 2026 explained that the units produced by the Army's Integrated Visual Augmentation System do not meet soldiers' needs and will go into storage.
The GAO examined why Pentagon weapons programs repeatedly fail to deliver on time and on budget. The agency found that the Department of Defense's budget process requires securing long-term funding for weapon programs early, before military leaders fully understand what capabilities are needed. This mismatch between planning and reality has created a pattern of cost overruns and schedule delays that stretch back to 1990.
The expected time frame for major Pentagon programs to deliver an initial capability now exceeds 12 years.
The program cost an estimated $1.8 billion and went through three separate acquisition efforts over eight years starting in 2018. The Army produced nearly 10,000 units of its first two versions, but those units don't meet soldiers' needs and will go into storage.
In the B-52 program, diminishing manufacturing sources and spare-parts shortages reduced aircraft availability and forced cannibalization of existing aircraft.
The GAO has made hundreds of recommendations to the Defense Department over the years to improve outcomes. Many remain unimplemented.
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