In uncertain times regarding the budget, the Defense Department can change the way it does business and be more efficient or change the business it does and shift strategy, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
However, if additional, deeper cuts are imposed, authors Todd Harrison and Evan B. Montgomery say the Pentagon may have to change both the business it does and how it does business.
The authors say the Pentagon should prepare for the possibility of more cuts ahead of time and develop a menu of options for how the cuts can be implemented.
One option the Pentagon has, under known budget cuts, in changing the way it does business is to rely more heavily on unmanned systems, the report says.
Where there is room in technology and missions for use of unmanned systems, it can achieve long-term cost savings and is currently “effectively substituting technology for labor to achieve operational efficiencies,” the report says.