Major acquisition programs fail more often than not/.../
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments has estimated that over the last decade, aborted programs have cost $46 billion, but that only accounts for outright terminations. There are other ways in which programs can and do fail, so any consideration of the issue should start with taxonomy.
Failure is a negative, the absence of success. Success, as opposed to good news or good luck, can be defined as reaching or exceeding a pre-defined objective, or level of performance, and defense projects, like any major effort, usually start with a set of clearly defined goals, the most important being:
•Effectiveness, defined in the U.S. by key performance parameters (KPP) that can include speed, range, survivability and reliability and other characteristics.
•Time and money required to deliver a KPP-compliant system to the customer.
•Procurement and operating cost, so the user can afford the desired force size without shorting other operational needs.