Costs of Supporting and Modernizing Current U.S Military Forces
Abstract
At the request of Senator Domenici, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently estimated future defense costs. The results of this analysis were presented to Senator Domenici in a briefing. This paper summarizes the results of the analysis and the assumptions underlying it. It also incorporates minor revisions of the figures used in the briefing. According to CBO's analysis, supporting and modernizing current numbers of U.S. military forces over the next five years could require average real growth in the defense budget of between 1 percent and 4 percent a year (see Figures 1 and 2) . This estimate assumes that the current number of forces are maintained and that they are modernized with weapons currently in development or productionthat is, no weapons programs are canceled nor are any new programs proposed beyond those now in development. (Table 1 provides selected details on what constitutes current forces and lists some currently planned major weapons programs.) This range of average annual real growth would also provide sufficient money to sustain the current tempo of day-to-day military training and operations, which should avoid declines in the readiness of military forces.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- AD1001723
Entities
Organizations
- Congressional Budget Office