Affordability: Preventing Cost Growth in DoD's Military Capability Portfolios

Abstract

Our military capability portfolios will continue to be developed to address current and future threats to our national security. The current economical frailty plaguing the United States is pressing the Department of Defense (DoD) to do more without more resources. In light of this, DoD must develop an affordable and reliable equipping strategy that plans and prioritizes its requirements, resourcing, and acquisition processes in order to get the capabilities it needs to achieve the goals and objectives specified in the National Security Strategy (NSS). Cost growth that makes a DoD program unaffordable translates to lost capability to the nation. Over the years, DoD has endured various unfavorable reviews about its ability to manage the defense budget. The observations of excessive cost growth, unrealistic requirements, and inability to deliver capabilities has reached alarming levels. To address these issues the President and Congress want more accountability within the DoD procurement process. While DoD has implemented some affordability initiatives, more must be done. This SRP examines the need to formulate an equipping strategy underpinned by constrained resources. It concludes with some recommendations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA589055

Entities

People

  • Michael L. Brown

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Air Force
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Governments
  • Military Budgets
  • Military Capabilities
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Procurement
  • Security
  • Short Takeoff Aircraft
  • United States
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Strategic Security Studies