Soon after World War II ended, the United States (US) and Russia entered the cold war era. Winning the cold war meant the US had to develop sophisticated weapon systems with such destructive power that any aggressor knew that the retaliatory capability of the US could and inflict vast destruction. Many millions of dollars were committed to ideas concerning technology that had not been developed as yet. Aerospace and defense contractors were growing without bounds, thanks to lucrative contract awards. Speed and technological capability were judged to be significantly more important than cost. To make matters worse, contracts were often offered to the second or third most qualified bidder for the sole purpose of maintaining competition and maximizing the total number of defense contractors. HAWKER MILITARY CONTRACTOR (HMC) AWARD During this period HMC was awarded the R&D phase of the advanced missile delivery systems. The terms of the contract specified that HMC had to submit to the miliitary within three months after contact award, a formal project plan for the two-year missile delivery systems. Contracts at that time did not require that a risk management plan to be developed. A meeting was held with the project manager of R&D to assess the risks in the Atlas & Tiitan missile delivery systems project. PM(project manager):