Weapon Overruns Are Laid to Haste, Inflation, Errors
Congressional auditors yes-, terday blamed $19.1 billion in weapons costs overruns on military efforts to get too much too fast, inflations and cost-estimating errors.</br></br>They attributed the underestimations partly to competitive pressure on both defense contractors and the military.</br></br>B.	Staats, head of.CongressÛª General Accounting Office, presented a report with those and other conclusions to the House Armed Services Committee probing cost overruns.</br></br>Staats said costs of 45 major weapons have risen to an estimated $112.7 billion from de-velppment estimates of $93.6 billionÛÓa 20 per cent increase.</br></br>The 45 weapons include the C-5A super cargo plane; the F-111, F-15 and F-14 swing-wing jet fighters; Minuteman missiles; Poseidon submarines, and M-60 Army tanks.