From Deseret News archives:
A.F. wasted $1 million on faulty devices
So they begged in late 2002 for 100 early models to be bought and sent to them.
Officials complied, at a total cost of $1 million. Trouble is, they knew manufacturer's tests showed the detectors didn't work well in hot areas or under battle conditions. And they didn't wait for other planned tests, including some at Utah's Dugway Proving Ground, which would conclude that the equipment is not worth purchasing until it is improved significantly.
So, a Defense Department Inspector General report says the Air Force not only wasted $1 million on unreliable detectors, but it may have put airmen at increased risk while they depended on the equipment. The report says officials appear to have violated a variety of federal laws and military rules to do that.
The Pentagon also ordered the Air Force to cease using the 100 detectors that were bought and to collect and return them to military testers working on improving them.
The information is in documents obtained by the Deseret Morning News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
British Aerospace Systems was chosen as the contractor to develop a "joint chemical agent detector." After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, that company also began marketing a virtually identical commercial version called the "JCAD ChemSentry."
Amid such marketing, the inspector general report says, Air Force Central Command overseeing the Middle East erroneously "perceived that the JCAD ChemSentry technology provided greater operational capacity than the capabilities of fielded detectors" it was already using.
The command filed an "Unusual and Compelling Urgency Need" request asking officers who oversee development of the detector to buy and send 100 models. When told it would take three months to verify that need, Air Force commanders said that was unacceptable and that they would buy commercial versions directly from the manufacturer.
In response, the military's JCAD Program Office decided to go ahead and buy the requested detectors quickly. But instead of purchasing them as part of its normal programs to test and verify the early military version, it opted also to buy the commercial model instead.
Comments
- Grizzlies lend forward to AHL team 2:06 a.m.
- Basic Sports Training clinic Saturday 2:06 a.m.
- Tony Finau reaches Big Break finale 2:05 a.m.
- Chicken-lovers dance for free food 2:02 a.m.
- Kansas' Secret Santa gives away $ 1:24 a.m.
- 75 hostages seized in Phillippines 1:24 a.m.
- Gates: US to be Afghan partner 1:23 a.m.
- Al-Qaida claims credit for blasts 1:23 a.m.
- Utah Utes campus briefs 12:39 a.m.
- SUU campus briefs 12:37 a.m.
- Hot Rod behind mic for Lakers
- Panel passes BCS playoff bill
- Max Hall wants to look ahead
- Cougars use depth to beat ASU
- Crash landing next to I-15
- Psychologist: Mitchell schizophrenic
- Non-BCS schools not given fair shot
- Palin signs books, chats with fans
- Jazz go up against 'the best'
- Many seek to wipe clean misdeeds
- Letters: Global warming a lie
229 - TCU to play Boise in Fiesta Bowl
206 - BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall
184 - Cougars going back to Vegas
150 - Utah/BYU rivalry can be more civil
147 - Andersen apologizes for Jordan hoax
138 - Max Hall wants to look ahead
119 - Revive full food tax?
100 - Yet again, we learn BCS is a big joke
94 - Palin signs books, chats with fans
94
Love him or hate him, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch knows how to get attention.
Top 5 Players in minutes played: Utah 1 Fr, 2 Jr, 2 Sr Jr Carlon Brown...
Yep "self righteous" if the rest of us who don't rubber neck left, you would...
Thank you for keeping the team here for all of these years, and for always...
of misery, inconsistency, road games losses and of course, NO TITLE ! Long...
Glad to hear about Matt and the others who demonstrate you can play at a high...
I guess they forgot that God made clothes for Adam and Eve and that was...
and good luck.
There is an inherent problem in any rating system -- it takes into account...
Give Phillips some credit. He was 5/5 in field goals in the YBU game, and the...
Mr. Bender's kind of thinking doesn't even acknowledge that the world is...



You can be the first to comment on this story.