Military forces include not just traditional services, but also the newly created Space Force, special operations forces, civilians, and contractors. In his final paper in a series on U.S. forces, Mark Cancian analyzes recent changes to these national security elements.
The Air Force continues to develop and procure next-generation aircraft to meet the demands of great power conflict. While fielding new aircraft has arrested the fleet’s increasing age, the Air Force is not buying enough new aircraft to sustain its force structure.
The Marine Corps begins a major restructuring to develop capabilities for great power conflict after two decades of conducting counterinsurgency ashore. However, many commentators worry that the restructuring will make the Marine Corps too narrowly focused.
Unlike the other services, the Navy has sought to grow significantly. However, its previous plan to reach 355 ships collapsed. A new plan incorporates smaller ships and large numbers of unmanned systems.
The Army plans for a slow expansion while continuing to take steps towards modernization for great power conflict. In the second white paper in his series on U.S. forces, CSIS’s Mark Cancian analyzes the Army’s plans and challenges for growth and modernization.
CSIS Senior Adviser Mark Cancian annually produces a series of papers on US military forces. This first white paper in the series analyzes what DOD did with military forces in FY 2021 and four challenges and a wild card that military forces face in the future.
In their latest analysis, Todd Harrison and Seamus P. Daniels outline overall trends in the defense budget, changes in the FY 2021 request, and issues for Congress and the next administration to consider.
The Trump administration is expected to release its FY 2021 defense budget request on February 10, 2020, the final budget submitted in the BCA era. In this brief, experts from the CSIS International Security Program outline major issues to watch in the FY 2021 defense budget.
On August 10, the Department of Defense kicked off a defense-wide zero-based review. This brief explains what the review entails, which defense-wide organizations are subject to it, and previous efforts at driving efficiencies in the “Fourth Estate.”
Esper will likely conduct a “night court” process for DoD, which means that every program will need to be justified in terms of the national defense strategy’s reorientation towards great power conflict.