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Project Waler is sometimes cited as an example of the mismanagement of Australian defence procurement.[76] A December 1985 editorial in The Sydney Morning Herald judged that Beazley was correct to cancel it as the Army's objectives were over-ambitious and producing the vehicles in Australia rather than buying them from overseas would have led to wasteful spending.[40] Schaetzel argued in 1986 that Project Waler was, like the Australian light destroyer project, an example of the Australian Defence Organisation initiating an over-ambitious and speculative project that ended in a "fiasco". He also stated that the failure of these projects may have discouraged firms from submitting bids for subsequent Defence procurement exercises given the costs involved in preparing proposals.[49] Schaetzel expanded on this argument in 1989, noting that the three large scale attempts to develop defence equipment in Australia between the 1970s and mid 1980s (Project Waler, the light destroyers and the AAC Wamira training aircraft) failed after "considerable expenditure had been incurred" due to deficient planning and project management.[77] He recommended that the defence procurement process be streamlined and that a forum be established to assess the overall benefits of defence procurements for the military and Australian industry rather than just their benefits for the service that was to use the equipment.[78] In 1990 Lieutenant Colonel Gregory C. Camp, a US Army officer who had served on exchange with the Australian Army, argued that the leaders of Project Waler "fell prey to a desire to incorporate more and more into the equipment". Camp noted that the contemporary US Army project to develop the Armored Gun System and the fast attack vehicle had experienced similar problems, with the planned vehicles also becoming unaffordable.[79] The Canberra Times's defence correspondent Frank Cranston wrote in 1991 that upgrading the M113s instead of purchasing the vehicles intended under Project Waler would not meet the Army's needs for large numbers