Weapon System Sustainment: The Army and Air Force Conducted Reviews and the Army Identified Operating and Support Cost Growth

In 2016, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 included a provision requiring the military departments to conduct sustainment reviews for major weapon systems within 5 years of declaring initial operational capability and throughout their life cycle to assess their product-support strategy, performance, and O&S costs.1

In 2021, the NDAA act was amended.  Specifically, the act amended the sustainment review provision to require each review to assess the execution of the life-cycle sustainment plan of the weapon system and require that the secretary of each military department annually provide the sustainment reviews conducted on a weapon system to the congressional defense committees.