The $5 Billion Misunderstanding: The Collapse of the Navy's A-12 Stealth Bomber Program [Hardcover]

James Perry Stevenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2001

Examines how and why the A-12 acquisition program fell from a place of honor to one of derision and scandal.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a chilling tale of noncommunication, mismanagement, and deception...required reading for all in the Cabinet, Congress, and the Pentagon." -- Air & Space, February/March 2002

"This book should be required reading for the Cabinet, Congress and the Pentagon." -- Indianapolis Star, May 11, 2002

Product Details

• Hardcover: 484 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557507775
• ISBN-13: 978-1557507778
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,073,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" book !, February 1, 2002

By 

Ralph E. Merkle Jr. (Orlando, Fl. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The $5 Billion Misunderstanding: The Collapse of the Navy's A-12 Stealth Bomber Program (Hardcover)

I was a test engineer for a sub-contractor on this "black hole" program . During my two year stay on the program , I certainly saw no "waste and fraud" nor did a good friend of mine at GD who was very closely associated with the program. For those two years we put in very long hours 6 to 7 days a week and had all of our "state of the art" test equipment up and running and certified ahead of schedule . The book tells it as it was , a program that was mis-managed by the Navy from the day the contract was signed . The airframe producers , General Dynamics and Mcdonnell Douglas , found their hands tied as they didn't get the support they were expecting from Northrop's "learning curve" on the B2 program . This coupled with the never ending design changes requested by the Navy brought on the inevitable cost over runs . This is a superbly written book by the author of "The Pentagon Paradox" , another "must read" book !

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the last word on the subject - I hope, November 21, 2001

By 

Mark Shanks (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The $5 Billion Misunderstanding: The Collapse of the Navy's A-12 Stealth Bomber Program (Hardcover)

The A-12 program is probably the single most expensive cancellation in the history of US defense acquisition. The US taxpayer ended up shelling out about $5 billion dollars and got.....nothing. (That would have bought over seven million of those $700 hammers you've heard about!) Mr. Stevenson takes a look at the origins of the program in the earliest research in "stealth" technology, how the Navy illegally started the program without Congressional funding, the lack of oversight of contractor performance, and the totally heinous behavior of the Secretary of Defense, who in April 1990 told Congress that "the program appears to be reasonably well-handled at this point" and six months later cancelled the program in such a manner that the prime contractors, McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics, were able to win in court over $2 billion in costs PLUS $400 million in legal fees.

I worked at McAir during the period covered by this book. I watched about 6,000 hard-working engineers and technicians get laid off in a single week, and I had to do the work of three peoople after those layoffs, so yes, I'm pretty bitter about the whole thing. But anyone who pays taxes ought to be bitter about the totally irresponsible (and yes, illegal) way the program was conceived, awarded, managed, and terminated.

My only complaint is that the book covers only the top-level decision-making. You won't find any "lessons learned" on program management or personal stories of the fraud, waste, and abuse that went on. Oh, yes, in spite of assertions to the contrary, McDonnell and GD BOTH cooked the books and overspent WILDLY on travel, overtime, and facilities (although the description of GD's Building 500 [page 196] is a nice appetizer for the KIND of waste that I saw SO VERY MUCH of.) Still, this is the first time the story has been brought to the attention of the general public, and it's one that is more relevant than ever today. "Black" programs make up increasingly large percentages of the defense budget and it is nearly impossible for Congress to see just exactly what is being done with that money. Highly recommended reading.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Legal Overview of A-12 Debacle, November 20, 2002

By 

John M. Dodson (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The $5 Billion Misunderstanding: The Collapse of the Navy's A-12 Stealth Bomber Program (Hardcover)

This book is a good managerial/legal overview but lacks technical depth and any analysis of the human cost incurred by the A-12 cancellation debacle. It exhaustively details program management missteps and lays out the legal argument which favors the contractor assertion that the program (excuse me, contract) was terminated for convenience. However, the reader is left with the misleading impression that most engineering problems (and there were many) were resolved by the time of cancellation. However, in January 1991, there were many challenges ahead that drawing release tracking charts did not reflect. In the final analysis, Dick Cheney did the right thing the wrong way and thousands of workers were fired virtually overnight by companies that had mortgaged their futures trying to get a piece of the stealth pie; Mr. Stevenson got it mostly right.