Defense Budget
- Report
Acquisition Costs of the Navy’s Medium Landing Ship
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.
- Report
The Shipbuilding Composite Index and Its Rates of Change Compared With Economywide Inflation Rates
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.
- Report
How the Military’s Basic Allowance for Housing Compares With Civilian Housing Costs
CBO compares the housing standards used to determine the military’s basic allowance for housing (BAH) with the housing rented by comparable civilians. CBO also compares BAH rates with the rental costs paid by those civilians.
- Presentation
Perspectives on the Navy’s 2024 Shipbuilding Plan
Presentation by Eric J. Labs, an analyst in CBO’s National Security Division, at the Surface Navy Association’s 36th National Symposium.
- Presentation
The 2024 Outlook for Navy Shipbuilding: Familiar Plans and Higher Costs
Presentation by Eric J. Labs, an analyst in CBO’s National Security Division, at the Bank of America 2024 Defense Outlook and Commercial Aerospace Forum.
- Graphic
Atlas of Military Compensation
In the President’s 2024 budget request, total military compensation is $551 billion, including veterans' benefits. That amount represents an increase of 134 percent since 1999 after removing the effects of inflation.
- Report
The Navy’s Costs to Eliminate Its Deferred Maintenance Backlog and to Renovate and Modernize Its Buildings
CBO estimates that eliminating the maintenance backlogs of roughly 20,000 buildings that the Navy uses and maintains in the United States would cost $17 billion. Renovating and modernizing the buildings would cost an additional $32 billion.
- Blog Post
CBO Releases an Updated Interactive Tool for Analyzing the Size and Cost of the U.S. Military
The enhanced tool lets users change the defense budget to see the possible effects on military forces, or add or subtract major units to see the effects on the budget, or explore a mix of those approaches. It includes a how-to-use tutorial.
- Interactive
CBO’s Interactive Force Structure Tool
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.
- Report
The U.S. Military’s Force Structure: Fiscal Year 2024 Update to Personnel Numbers and Costs
This spreadsheet provides the data that underlie CBO’s interactive force structure tool.