Summary

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 required the Air Force to test the operational readiness rate of one B-1B bomber wing. The test (referred to as the B-1B Operational Readiness Assessment, or ORA) was conducted from June 1, 1994 through November 30, 1994. In reviewing the assessment, GAO found the ORA test plan was complete and comprehensive, and was conducted in accordance with the test plan. The ORA demonstrated that, given a full complement of spare parts equipment, and manpower, the Air Force could achieve and sustain a 75-percent mission capable rate for the B-1B. But the ORA was not exclusively used to project the cost of sustaining the entire B-1B fleet at that rate. GAO asked the Air Force to provide an estimate of that cost, but the Air Force declined. At the completion of the ORA, the mission capable rate for the B-1B fleet was about 65 percent. The Air Force believes that the completion of ongoing initiatives in progress and the continued funding for spare parts and repairs will increase the fleet mission capable rate to 72 percent.

GAO found that: (1) the data collected during ORA, and reflected in the Air Force report, was credible; (2) ORA was designed to verify the need to improve the various B-1B bomber components, and not to provide projections of actual costs of those improvements; (3) the $11.9-million estimate of additional costs to sustain the B-1B fleet was optimistic, and the Air Force's most cost-effective way to improve the B-1B mission capability rate; and (4) the estimate represented only maintenance and management costs and did not include the initial costs incurred from initiatives in progress or future expenditures for spare parts and repairs.