News

Trump’s Twitter Attack on the F-35 Is Only His Latest on the Stealth Fighter

December 12, 2016 CNBC

"We think we know kind of how volatile everything is going to be in the future, and it turns out we have no idea," said Katherine Blakeley, a research fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Latest Trump Target; The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program

December 12, 2016 Market Place

Another day, another market-moving tweet from the future President of the United States. This time the target was defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. In the tweet, President-elect Trump called the F-35 program and its cost, “out of control” and pledged to save billions of dollars in military and other spending once he takes office. Shares in Lockheed and other defense contractors promptly dropped. But fixing concerns with the F-35 program is no easy task.

Federal Funding Bill Sets the Table for Trump

December 9, 2016 Market Place

The Senate continues to negotiate a bill funding the federal government into the spring. Congressional Republicans wanted to extend the measure through September, the end of the government’s fiscal year. But the incoming Trump administration pushed for the shorter-term funding so the next president can put his stamp on the government as soon as possible.

If Trump Wants to Find a Troubled Pentagon Program, Some Think He Should Look at This Nearly $500 Million Ship

December 8, 2016 Washington Post

“Programs that have had cost problems or performance problems are going to be subject to renegotiation,” said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The LCS program is “tailor-made for the new administration to revisit.”

$1.1 Trillion Stop-Gap Spending Bill Would Avoid a Government Shutdown

December 8, 2016 The Fiscal Times

A continuing resolution means that current spending levels would continue and that most new projects and programs could not begin. At least seven new weapons programs were facing disruptions because of continuing resolutions, based on a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments study.

The Pentagon Told the Navy to Cut $17B From Its Budget; The Navy Said No

December 7, 2016 Navy Times

The deadline for submitting budgets to OSD is Thursday, the senior defense official said, adding that the Navy's will not incorporate the cuts. Ultimately that means that Carter's budget wonks will have to do the cutting themselves and the Navy may not like what they decide to cut, said Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments…

Briefs

Understanding NATO’s Concept for Deterrence and Defense of the Euro-Atlantic Area

May 20, 2024 Katherine E. Dahlstrand, Sean Monaghan, Sara Bjerg Moller

NATO, the largest and most powerful military alliance in history, turned seventy-five in April. In July, the leaders of NATO will return to the city where its founding document, the Washington Treaty, was signed in 1949. Most people have heard of NATO. Fewer know its most important document is the Strategic Concept, which is updated every decade or so, and sets the Alliance’s strategy. An even smaller group know about NATO’s “Concept for Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area.”

Studies

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

March 18, 2024 Katherine E. Dahlstrand

Assessing the type of threat that Russia is likely to pose in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine is a critical challenge for the United States and its allies. What will the Russian military look like in the future? Some argue that the Russian military will remain a significant threat – and perhaps become a very different and even more serious one. This argument holds that the Russian military will reconstitute in a relatively short time frame and may reform according to lessons learned during the war in Ukraine. Others argue that the Russian military will pose a far less formidable conventional threat going forward. Not only has the war against Ukraine exposed fundamental weaknesses in the Russian military, the argument goes, but Moscow’s ability to address those weaknesses will be limited by available manpower, sanctions, and export controls.

Briefs

2023 Annual Report

January 30, 2024

For nearly three decades, CSBA has provided consistent, high-quality, and innovative research on defense strategy, budgets, and the security environment.

Briefs

An Ongoing and Necessary Renaissance: NATO’s Nuclear Posture

January 25, 2024 Eric Edelman, Franklin C. Miller

President Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling while the war in Ukraine has raged, along with lurid nuclear threats by Russian officials and propagandists, have once again focused attention on NATO’s nuclear mission. As the alliance approaches a summit in Washington later this summer, it is an appropriate time to review its nuclear posture.

Studies

Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

January 17, 2024 Carl Rehberg, Herbert Kemp

One of the most critical operational challenges the United States is likely to confront in a future conflict, particularly in the Indo-Pacific theater, is the threat of massed precision-guided air and missile attacks on overseas ports, bases, and other vital facilities. DoD has invested significant resources to defend against ballistic missile attacks on the United States, as well as its forward bases and forward-operating forces. However, it cannot still defeat large numbers of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial systems.

Studies

Inconsistent Congress: Analysis of the 2024 Defense Budget Request

October 17, 2023 Travis Sharp

After increasing the Department of Defense (DoD) budget in real terms during seven of the past eight fiscal years, Congress has now pivoted toward restraining spending by passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Approved in early June as part of the debt ceiling deal, the law imposes a liberating limit on defense. It unshackles defense spending from parity with nondefense spending but still caps military budgets at or near current spending levels for the next two fiscal years while brandishing the threat of a lowered defense cap and potential sequestration if Congress delays in passing full-year appropriations for any budget account.

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

Inconsistent Congress: Analysis of the 2024 Defense Budget Request

Evaluate Like We Operate: Why DOD Should Evaluate Weapons Systems as Networked Force Packages, Not Individual Platforms

Extending Deterrence by Detection: The Case for Integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems Into the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness

Beyond Precision: Maintaining America’s Strike Advantage in Great Power Conflict

The Decisive Decade: United States–China Competition in Defense Innovation and Defense Industrial Policy in and Beyond the 2020s

Speeding Toward Instability? Hypersonic Weapons and the Risks of Nuclear Use

Air Power Metamorphosis: Rethinking Air Force Combat Force Modernization

Innovating for Great Power Competition: An Examination of Service and Joint Innovation Efforts

2023 Annual Report

Featured Event

Report Release Webinar: Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

Trump’s Twitter Attack on the F-35 Is Only His Latest on the Stealth Fighter

Latest Trump Target; The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program

Federal Funding Bill Sets the Table for Trump

If Trump Wants to Find a Troubled Pentagon Program, Some Think He Should Look at This Nearly $500 Million Ship

$1.1 Trillion Stop-Gap Spending Bill Would Avoid a Government Shutdown

The Pentagon Told the Navy to Cut $17B From Its Budget; The Navy Said No

Latest Publications

Understanding NATO’s Concept for Deterrence and Defense of the Euro-Atlantic Area

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

2023 Annual Report

An Ongoing and Necessary Renaissance: NATO’s Nuclear Posture

Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

Inconsistent Congress: Analysis of the 2024 Defense Budget Request