The National Transportation Safety Board released a report last week on a civilian plane crash in New Mexico last May that killed four people. A nearby military exercise intermittently jammed the GPS signals the aircraft needed to navigate, according to the report, though the NTSB has not confirmed whether the jamming directly caused the crash.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, a senior fellow at Defense Priorities, said the crash is not an isolated incident but points to a serious, long-running testing culture problem across the U.S. Armed Forces.
Davis pointed to a similar episode last February, when the civilian airport in El Paso, Texas, was shut down with virtually no prior public notice. The closure was initially announced as lasting 10 days, though the airport was ultimately closed for less than a day. Davis said the shutdown came in response to military testing of high-energy anti-drone systems close to El Paso International Airport, and that defense officials have not explained why the testing was conducted so near a civil aviation hub when restricted testing grounds exist in the surrounding region.
Davis's own experience with a canceled Army program
Davis said he witnessed the pattern firsthand in the mid-2000s, when he was an Army major stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, assigned to the Future Combat Systems program. The program was pitched to Congress and the public as a revolutionary "system-of-systems" meant to replace the aging M1 Abrams tanks and M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, promising a network of light, interconnected manned and unmanned combat vehicles, robotic platforms and aerial drones.
According to Davis, testing showed the systems and individual components failing, but commanders altered test parameters and lied about the results rather than adjusting the program's goals. Then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates canceled the program in 2009 after nearly $20 billion had been spent.
Ground Combat Vehicle and its successors
Davis said the Army then rebranded the effort as the Ground Combat Vehicle program to salvage the technology. Driven by demand for heavier, better-armed vehicles during the 2003-11 Iraq war, the vehicle grew to 70 tons, heavier than the Abrams it was meant to replace, and the program was canceled in 2014 after another $1.5 billion was spent.
The Army then launched the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle program in 2018 to replace the Bradley, but it was canceled in 2020 without producing a single prototype, Davis said. The effort now continues under the XM30 Combat Vehicle program, which the Army hopes will deliver a fieldable fleet around 2030.
Air Force and Navy programs
Davis said the pattern extends beyond the Army, pointing to the Air Force's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Despite years of software bugs, maintenance problems and failed test milestones, the Pentagon continued ordering hundreds of the aircraft and deployed them into the operational fleet before full combat testing was completed, he said.
He also cited the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program, which was originally meant to deliver 55 vessels. After structural flaws, gear failures and budget overruns, the Navy built only 31, and today 27 remain afloat, with none combat-capable for conflict in places like China or the Middle East, according to Davis.
Davis called the Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 destroyer program the most egregious example. Originally slated for a fleet of 32 stealth warships, repeated cost overruns and unmet technological promises left the Navy with just three destroyers, none of them fully combat-capable, he said.
Davis calls for accountability
Davis said that when military leadership treats testing as a public relations obstacle rather than a rigorous filter for combat readiness, the result is not just massive cost overruns but weapons platforms that don't work, leaving the force weaker. He said the practice wastes tens of billions of taxpayer dollars, cripples tactical readiness and, as recent events in domestic airspace suggest, puts civilian lives at risk.
Davis called on Congress to enforce accountability and end the Pentagon's practice of faking test results to defend bloated budgets, saying defense procurement will otherwise remain broken.
