This is GAO’s annual assessment for 2012, issued in March 2012, of Department of Defense (DOD) weapon system acquisitions, an area that is on GAO’s high-risk list. The report is in response to the mandate in the joint explanatory statement to the DOD Appropriations Act, 2009. It includes (1) observations on the cost performance of DOD's 2011 portfolio of 96 major defense acquisition programs; (2) an assessment of the knowledge attained by key junctures in the acquisition process for 37 major defense acquisition programs, which were selected because they were in development or early production; (3) observations on the implementation of acquisition reforms, particularly for 16 future major defense acquisition programs that are not yet in the portfolio, which represent the best opportunity to assess DOD's progress in this area.. The estimated cost of DOD's 2011 portfolio stands at about $1.58 trillion and has grown by over $74 billion or 5 percent in the past year. About $30 billion of this growth can be attributed to quantity changes within major defense acquisition programs; the other $45 billion is due to research and development cost growth and production inefficiencies." AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) * Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) * Apache Block IIIA (AB3A) * AB3A Remanufacture * Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense (Army IAMD) * B-2 Extremely High Frequency SATCOM * BMDS: Aegis Ashore * BMDS: Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Standard Missile-3 * BMDS: SM-3 Block IB Program * Aegis BMD Element - Block 2004 * BMDS: Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) * BMDS: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) * C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) * CH-53K - Heavy Lift Replacement * CVN 78 Class * DDG 1000 * E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (E-2D AHE) * Excalibur Precision Guided Extended Range Artillery Projectile * F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter) * Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) * Global Hawk (RQ-4A/B) * GPS III * Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft System * HC/MC-130 * Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) Block 4 * Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) * Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER) * Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) * Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) * Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) * Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station Joint Tactical Radio System (AMF JTRS) * Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit (HMS) * JTRS HMS * KC-46 Tanker * LHA Replacement Amphibious Assault Ship * Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) * LCS Modules * Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) * MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) * BAMS UAS * Navy Multiband Terminal (NMT) * NMT * P-8A Poseidon * Reaper Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) * Ship to Shore Connector (SSC) * Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) * Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) High Program * Space Fence * Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM) * Vertical Take-off and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) * Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) * Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Satellite * B-2 Defensive Management System (DMS) Modernization * Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) * Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) * Common Vertical Lift Support Platform (CVLSP) * DDG 51 Destroyer * Enhanced Polar System (EPS) * Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) * F-22 Modernization * Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) * Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) * Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Ground Mobile Radios (GMR) * Nett Warrior * Ohio-Class Replacement (OR) * Patriot/Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) Combined Aggregate Program (CAP) Fire Unit * Presidential Helicopter (VXX) * Three Dimensional Expeditionary Long Range Radar (3DELRR) * Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) System