Ogden Johnson III wrote:

when the source was clearly identified as a newspaper article. I've
been playing around the DoD world, either in the military or working
for them via a beltway bandit, since 1961 and I've *never* seen
information about a contract's SOW, milestones, DT/OT/IOC, etc.,
published in a newspaper article. Or in a website article. Or in a
magazine article. I generally see snippets of info on that sort of
thing in the presentations put out by the Program Office's or
Manufacturer/Prime Contractor's Power Point Rangers.

I think maybe you're not reading the right magazines, then. The serious
trade press (Defense Daily, Aerospace Daily, Inside the Pentagon, etc.) will
often discuss milestones, DT/OT, IOC dates, and so forth. A lot of this
info will even show up in slightly less hard-core pubs like Aviation Week
and Defense News.

For EA-18, we can even find this info online in pubs like Seapower (not
usually a great refernce, but a good start in this case). From mid 2002:

"The company estimates that the aircraft's Systems Design and Development
phase could begin in fiscal year 2004, with initial operational capability
reached in 2009. "

http://www.navyleague.org/sea_power/june_02_08.php

The EA-18G did in fact pass Milestone B (Approaval to begin System Design
and Development) late in 2003 and Boeing received a contract for EA-18G SDD
on the 29th (which is what prompted this thread).

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