A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that many of the Pentagon’s most expensive new weapons acquisition programs are significantly behind schedule. According to the report, auditors reviewed 104 of the department’s major and costly weapons programs. The watchdog’s assessment concludes that the overall portfolio shows delays that can stretch to roughly 12 years compared with original timelines. The outlets report that the GAO focuses on program execution, including whether acquisition milestones and delivery dates are being met as expected. While the specific programs cited are not detailed across the provided summaries, the shared takeaway is that delays are widespread among the most expensive efforts rather than isolated to a few projects. The findings underscore continued challenges in meeting schedules for complex defense systems, which often involve long development cycles, technology maturation, contracting, and integration of capabilities. The reports all attribute the conclusions to the GAO analysis and emphasize the magnitude of schedule slippage across the Pentagon’s highest-cost new weapons programs.