Life Cycle Management Commands: Wartime Process or Long-Term Solution?

Since the controversial 1997 letter directing that Program Mangers (PM) were responsible for complete weapon system lifecycle management (LCM) the Army acquisition and logistics communities have struggled to overcome resource and organizational obstacles to implementing integrated LCM. LCM reforms in the 199Os established the conditions for LCM but peacetime programs like Apache Prime Vendor Support failed. Not until the demands of supporting the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and new Department of Defense policies did the Army create the Life Cycle Management Commands (LCMC) in 2004. Subsequently the roles and responsibilities of PMs have expanded and the LCMC initiative has successfully supported the Army. But is LCMC success a result of organizational reform or just wartime necessity overcoming old bureaucracy? This Strategic Research Paper (SRP) will review the acquisition reforms and resource policies that have divided acquisition and logistics communities and then evaluate the merits of the LCMC using the Abrams Tank and Apache programs.