Acquisition of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon

DoD and military personnel involved in the management, support, and acquisition of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) and acquisition officials responsible for managing acquisition programs should read this report because it discusses oversight issues that must be addressed before the program progresses further through the acquisition process. This report is the first in a series of reports on the overall management of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) Increments I, II, and III. Because the Army issued a request for proposal for the development and production of the OICW Increment I before the program entered the system development and demonstration phase of the acquisition process, we evaluated whether management was complying with required acquisition procedures. The OICW is a dual engagement weapon: its primary subsystem fires a *** airbursting munition and its secondary subsystem fires the standard *** munition. The Army designed the OICW Increment I as a *** throughout the U.S. Army.