Affordability: The Key to a Strong Defense from Now On

摘要

Major reductions to the defense budget will cause a radical restructuring of thedefense industrial base. Understanding the cost implications of budget cutbacks is essential to manage this restructuring to assure that an appropriate force mix is available to defend our nation. Cost analysis must play a pivotal role in redefining our defense posture. But tools do not exist that can provide reasonable estimates of the effects of a greatly changed environment. Current tools will not adequately reflect structural changes to the defense base because they are retrospective (i.e., parametric) in nature. Therefore, a proper definition of the problems is required together with new tools for estimating that consider environmental shifts.