CSBA in the News

The proposed cuts to procurement might be the hardest for the U.S. military, said Todd Harrison, a defense budget expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. While procurement spending has increased dramatically over the past decade, the extra money has not resulted in dramatic increases in military hardware. Instead, prices have increased substantially, Harrison said. A 15 percent cut in procurement would make it very difficult for the Navy to build the 313-ship fleet it wants and for the Air Force to reduce the average age of its aircraft, he said.

Another factor that the concept should focus on is interoperability between the two services from both an equipment and operations standpoint, according to Jan van Tol of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Interoperability is the “spine of the whole concept,” van Tol said. It “affects so many different things from command and control to communications and ISR.” It also remains to be seen whether the document will be a simple vision statement or a more concrete operational concept of how the Air Force and Navy plan to fight in a denied area scenario of the type they could face in a conflict with China, van Tol said.

America’s ability to conduct large-scale  long-range strike operations has long given it a military edge. It’s now in danger, warns Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (full report). CSBA says “the Department of Defense’s current program of record is insufficient to sustain the US military’s long-range strike strategic advantage.”

Todd Harrison, a defense analyst for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, says he does not see defense spending being increased beyond the Obama plan. And he says it might be cut if Congress and the White House are able to reach a comprehensive deal on deficit reduction.

“The administration is saying there will be a 1 percent real increase in defense,” said Todd Harrison, an analyst for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. “If that’s the case, I don’t think either party would produce a significant increase beyond that, given the growing pressure to reduce the deficit.”