Weapon Systems

Under the Navy’s 2025 shipbuilding plan, total shipbuilding costs would average about $40 billion per year (in 2024 dollars) through 2054, CBO estimates, as the Navy built a fleet of 390 battle force ships.

CBO periodically issues a compendium of policy options and their estimated effects on the federal budget. This report presents 76 options for altering spending or revenues to reduce federal budget deficits over the next decade.

CBO analyzes the Department of Defense’s plans for 2025 to 2029 as presented in the 2025 Future Years Defense Program. Under those plans, CBO projects, defense costs would increase by 11 percent between 2029 and 2039.

Of the rotary-wing aircraft operated by the Army, the Department of the Navy (DoN), and the Air Force, the Army’s are the most numerous and have had the greatest availability rates. But DoN’s aircraft have flown the most hours per aircraft.

In analyzing the availability and use of aircraft by the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2023, CBO found that the number of manned aircraft has decreased and availability has increased. Average flying hours per aircraft have fallen since 2011.

CBO estimates that a three-ship Polar Security Cutter program would cost $5.1 billion in 2024 dollars—about 60 percent more than the Coast Guard’s current estimate. Operating those three ships would cost $12.4 billion through 2063.

Eric J. Labs, an analyst in CBO’s National Security Division, testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security on May 7, 2024.

CBO estimates that construction of 18 medium landing ships would cost between $6.2 billion and $7.8 billion in 2024 dollars. CBO’s estimates range from two to roughly three times the Navy’s current estimates.

Between 1980 and 2022, the shipbuilding composite index grew an average of 1.2 percentage points faster per year than the GDP deflator did. Looking ahead, a gap of roughly 1 percentage point would be consistent with historical experience.

This tool allows the user to see the effects on the Department of Defense’s total operation and support costs and on the size of the military of adding or subtracting tanks, ships, aircraft, and other units.

Under the three alternatives in the Navy’s 2024 plan, total shipbuilding costs would average about $34 billion to $36 billion per year (in 2023 dollars) through 2053, CBO estimates, as the Navy built a fleet of 319 to 367 battle force ships.

CBO analyzes the Department of Defense’s plans for 2024 through 2028 as presented in the 2024 Future Years Defense Program. Under those plans, CBO projects, defense costs would increase by 10 percent between 2028 and 2038.

CBO estimates that plans for U.S. nuclear forces, as described in the fiscal year 2023 budget and supporting documents, would cost $756 billion over the 2023–2032 period, $122 billion more than CBO’s 2021 estimate for the 2021–2030 period.

CBO provides an introduction to the basics of satellites and constellations, describes the reasons for and consequences of the projected growth in large constellations, and discusses the costs of fielding those constellations.

CBO reexamines the availability and use of the Department of Defense’s F-35 fighter aircraft and presents new findings on availability rates, flying hours, and effects of aging.

CBO compares the availability and use of the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft with the availability and use of their predecessor F/A-18C/D Hornets and other aircraft. Super Hornets have aged more adversely than the F/A-18C/Ds.

CBO analyzes the hypersonic missiles being developed by the U.S. military and compares them with less expensive existing or potential weapons that might fill similar roles, such as cruise missiles or ballistic missiles.

CBO issues a volume that contains short descriptions of 59 policy options that would each reduce the federal budget deficit by less than $300 billion over the next 10 years.

CBO analyzes DoD’s plans for 2022 as presented in the Biden Administration’s 2022 budget request and projects how those plans would affect defense costs through 2031. Those costs would increase by 10 percent over that period, CBO projects.

CBO analyzes patterns in the availability and use of the Air Force’s and Department of the Navy’s aircraft since 2001. CBO also analyzes how the military aircraft have performed since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

CBO examined three broad options for reconfiguring the military if funding for the Department of Defense was reduced by $1 trillion (in 2022 dollars), or 14 percent, over the next 10 years.

CBO examines the availability of six Air Force aircraft fleets after large-scale maintenance performed since the mid-1990s. In most of the cases, aircraft were more available after the maintenance action than would be expected without it.

This update of CBO’s 2016 primer on the structure of the U.S. military describes the size, functions, and operation and support costs of every major element of the armed forces.