Weapons Under Fire: Terminating Major Weapons Under Development in the U.S. Military Brown Bag Presentation by Michael Sulmeyer, D. Phil. Candidate at Oxford University

Date/Time: Friday, November 9, 2008, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs, APSA, 1527 New   Hampshire Ave., Washington, D.C.
To Attend: Seating is limited. Please RSVP to center@apsanet.org or call (202) 483-2512.

Weapons Under Fire:
Terminating Major Weapons Under Development in the U.S. Military    

Despite cost overruns, schedule delays and performance failures, the vast majority of weapons under development by the American military proceed through development and production to the field. However, there have been recent cases when a weapon is terminated after billions of dollars have been invested but before the actual weapon is produced. In the last 20 years, three weapons have met this fate: the Navy’s A-12 carrier based attack aircraft, the Army’s Crusader artillery system and the Army’s Comanche helicopter. Michael Sulmeyer examines why these weapons were terminated while so many others survived.

     The presentation will review the key agencies and actors within the Pentagon, their interactions, and will explain how they influence decision-making processes. Discussion will then turn towards the process of how the Pentagon develops and procures weapons systems, and the factors at work when these weapons systems are occasionally terminated.

     Michael Sulmeyer is a D.Phil Candidate at Oxford University.  He received his MA in War Studies from King’s College London and his BA in Political Science from Stanford University.  From 2003-2004, Michael was Special Assistant to the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.  He previously worked as a Research Assistant on defense policy issues for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  He currently writes for the Oxford Analytica "Daily Brief" on U.S. military developments.