Weapon Systems Annual Assessment: Requiring Mature Technologies Could Enable Shift to Rapid Delivery | U.S. GAO

Skip to main content

GAO-26-108457

Published: Jul 02, 2026. Publicly Released: Jul 02, 2026.

Jump To:

Elder Abuse

Services for Older Adults

State and Local-Level Drivers and Trends

State and Local Fiscal Projections

Federal Borrowing

Managing the Debt

Summary of Funding Provisions

Summary of FYs 2022-2024 Funds

Status of FYs 2022-2024 Funds

Implementation of FYs 2022-2023 Projects

Previous Tracking the Funds Reports

Auditing the Government's Books

Unpacking the Financial Report

Highlights

Recommendations

Background

About This Work

About This Work

Topics

Trends

About the Center

Why It's High Risk

What Remains To Be Done

Key Reports

Newest COVID-Related Reports

AI Use Cases

Flood Insurance

Past Pandemic-Related Reports

CARES Act Oversight Reports

All COVID-19 Reports

Report Suspected Fraud

Subjects

How to Get Notified

Past Reports

Public Health Threats

Explore the FY 2022 and 2023 Funds

Status of FY22 Projects

Lessons Learned

Agency Reports

Recent Reports

Recommendations

Supplemental Material

Full Report

Additional Data

View Decision

Downloads

Previously Identified Actions

Related Pages

Associated Agencies

Tough Choices and Opportunities Ahead

Americas Fiscal Future Key Areas

Retirement Security Key Areas

Current List

About The High Risk List

Area Ratings

Previous High Risk Products

Search Federal Vacancies

Past Federal Vacancies

Violation Letters

About the Yellow Book

Related Resources

Comment Letters

Related Publications

Contacts and Resources

Types of Changes

Listing of Key Changes

Major Issues Facing the Nation

Meeting Strategic Challenges

Additional Resources

About the Green Book

Resources

Advisory Council

Mission Teams

Operations and Staff Offices

Organization Chart

Why a Career at GAO?

Am I Qualified?

Company Culture

Reasonable Accommodations

Video Gallery

Paid Internships

Student Volunteers

Professional Development Program

Advancement

Executive Candidate Program

Summer Associates

Externships

Benefits

Contacts

Priority Open Recommendation Letters

Key Resources

Major Issues

Downloadable Resources

How Could Federal Debt Affect You?

GAO Contacts

Drivers

Interest

Sustainability

What Needs to Be Done?

Technology Assessments

Science & Tech Spotlights

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Related Reports

Performance Audits

Blogs

Multimedia

Podcasts

Videos

Career Highlights

Tribute Videos & Statements

Testimonies

Presentations

Forums & Roundtables

Fast Facts

DOD is again working to reform its acquisition processes to help deliver innovative weapons rapidly. But in this year's annual report, we found DOD struggled to fully enact existing reforms to achieve speed.

Key decisions are delayed for some of the costliest weapon programs—raising questions about how realistic their schedules are

Consistently following leading practices for product development could speed it up

Some programs began on a rapid acquisition pathway with tech that requires more time to develop—slowing on-time delivery of needed weapons. Our recommendation addresses this.

DOD's weapon systems acquisition is on our High Risk List.

The MH-139A helicopter program delayed a key acquisition decision.

Photo of a person rappelling from a helicopter in flight

Skip to Highlights

Highlights

What GAO Found

The Department of Defense (DOD) continues to struggle to deliver technologies quickly and within budget. Since its last annual assessment, GAO found:

Programs are delaying interim events and milestones for some of the costliest major defense acquisition programs (MDAP).

DOD has increased its use of the middle tier of acquisition (MTA) rapid prototyping and fielding pathways—intended to be completed in 5 years.

Some programs began on the MTA pathway with technologies that require more time to develop, hindering timely delivery of essential capabilities.

Programs do not consistently follow leading practices for product development that could help DOD achieve its stated goals.

Schedule delays persisted across MDAPs, signaling overly optimistic time frames . The overall average time frame to deliver a capability increased this year to over 12 years. Further, several MDAPs have not set new delivery dates or are delaying critical interim milestones. By keeping delivery dates static, these programs raise questions about how realistic their estimates are. This means the 12-year average will likely increase in the future.

Selected Programs Delayed Acquisition Events Since Last Year

MTA portfolio size increased. DOD plans to invest at least $49 billion across 23 of its most expensive MTA programs. The cost of the MTA portfolio increased, mainly because more of the largest and most time-consuming programs used the pathway this year.

Some programs began the MTA pathway with immature technologies, hindering timely transition. In...