Each year, the Department of Defense (DoD) submits Selected Acquisition Reports (SARs) to Congress detailing the status, plans, procurement quantities, and funding requirements for each Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP). These represent DoD’s largest and most expensive acquisition efforts. The most recent unclassified SARs, which were submitted in December 2016 and are consistent with the President’s FY 2018 budget request, include 87 programs, some of which extend more than 20 years into the future. The SARs project that these programs, in then-year dollars, will require roughly $334 billion in funding over the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) spanning FY 2018 to FY 2022 and an additional $451 billion in FY 2023 and beyond. The SARs cover 32 percent of DoD's FY 2018 FYDP modernization budget; the other 68 percent of the modernization budget includes classified programs and programs that are not large enough to qualify as MDAPs.
This report will discuss each of the 87 MDAPs with a public SAR, as well as the new B-21 bomber; the Long-Range Standoff Missile (LRSO); and the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), the future replacement for the Minuteman III, all three of which do not have public SARs. This report summarizes the purpose of each program, its capabilities, its planned development and procurement schedule, its annual procurement rate, and past and future program funding. When available, it also includes Average Procurement Unit Costs (APUC) and estimated total Operations and Support (O&S) costs for each program.
The Weapon Systems Factbook is organized into categories of weapon systems: air and missile defense; aircraft capability enhancements; aircraft procurement: fixed-wing aviation; aircraft procurement: rotary-wing aviation; aircraft procurement: unmanned systems; communications systems; ground systems; missiles and munitions; naval vessels and capabilities; nuclear forces; and space systems.
Unless otherwise noted, the cost and quantity figures used in this report are from the December 2016 SARs. Unlike other CSBA budget analyses, most cost figures in this report are shown in then-year dollars. In addition, in some cases, the SAR does not include a complete funding projection for the program, as noted throughout the report.