The portion of the national budget that is allocated to defense covers salaries, training, and health care; maintains and purchases arms, equipment, and facilities; funds military operations; and funds the development of new technologies. RAND analyzes defense expenditures and advises military and civilian decisionmakers on options to maximize the effectiveness, continuity, and innovation of the nation's military force.
REPORT
Using a single three-year contract to buy 60 F-22A fighter jets along with engines and spare parts – rather than using three separate annual contracts – would save the U.S. Air Force hundreds of millions of dollars.
REPORT
This study looked at how funding instability affects Army acquisition programs. Most funding instability was found to stem from events external to the Army or ambitious Army-set technical goals. Funding instability’s effects took the form of schedule slips, cost increases, and to a lesser degree, technical compromises. No significant association was found between funding instability and the adverse effects of program cost growth and…
COMMENTARY
Published commentary by RAND staff: No Need to Expand U.S. Army, in United Press International.
REPORT
The authors describe spend analyses they conducted in 2002 for the first phase of a purchasing and supply management demonstration at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center for of F100 jet engine spares and repair services and jet engine bearings. The authors detail required data and processes for a spend analysis and discuss the implications of their findings for F100 purchasing and supply-chain management for future spend analyses.
REPORT
Over the past four decades, U.S. Navy ship costs have exceeded the rate of inflation. As a result, it is becoming more difficult to afford the ships that the fleet needs. Limiting growth in features and reconsidering the mission orientation of ships may help reduce costs.
COMMENTARY
Published commentary by RAND staff: A Far too Costly Pentagon, in United Press International.
REPORT
RAND was assigned to assess alternative acquisition strategies for the Navy’s new family of destroyers. The authors drew on the history of competition in acquisition programs to examine a rich array of options. They concluded that for the program that existed in 2003 competition among primes would be impractical, that splitting the work should sustain the industrial base, and that a mixed strategy using different contract forms would…
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This article argues that the standard measure of military efforts-defense spending-inadequately captures the social and political impact of military preparedness. It instead suggests that military personnel policies impact social welfare efforts to the degree that they alter citizens' relationships to labor markets, directly provide social welfare benefits to military personnel, or create discursive obstacles to other groups seeking…
COMMENTARY
Published commentary by RAND staff.
REPORT
Recommends an approach to improving the utility and accuracy of software cost estimates by exposing uncertainty (in understanding the project) and reducing the risks associated with developing the estimates. The approach focuses on characteristics of the estimation process (such as which methods and models are most appropriate for a given situation) and the nature of the data used (such as software size), describing symptoms and warning…
REPORT
For the past several years, the U.S. Air Force has been using data from the Individual Contracting Action Report form, also known as the DD350, to analyze its goods and services expenditures. For this study, the authors collected data from Air Force contracting officers on a sample of fiscal year 2002 (FY02) DD350 records to assess the adequacy and accuracy of DD350 data for conducting expenditure analyses. The authors then extrapolated…
NEWS RELEASE
RAND Study Predicts China's Defense Spending
Is Lower Than Previous Outside Estimates
COMMENTARY
Published commentary by RAND staff.
REPORT
When Army equipment fails, its timely repair depends critically on the availability of needed spare parts. This monograph describes the development and implementation of dollar cost banding (DCB), a new algorithm for computing spare parts inventories maintained by Army supply support activities (SSAs). DCB has been used to expand the breadth of deployable inventories, producing immediate and significant gains in performance at little or no…
COMMENTARY
commentaries by RAND Staff: insightful commentaries on current events, published in newspapers, magazines and journals worldwide.
REPORT
The Defense Department has been spending over $100 million annually on recruiting advertising. Previous econometric studies of military advertising’s effects have relied on data from time periods unlike today’s and have used models possibly inappropriate for supporting today’s decisionmakers. This report details improved methods developed to assess military advertising’s effectiveness and illustrates them using…
REPORT
This book examines the Army's role in the war on terrorism; the Army's homeland security needs; the implications of increased emphasis on Asia; the Army's role in coalition operations; the unfinished business of jointness; the lessons learned from operations and how to prepare for the future; the Army's deployability, logistical, and personnel challenges; and whether the Army can afford its Transformation. These examinations are bracketed…
REPORT
This report contains the results of a study designed to assist the Department of Defense in its efforts to refine the defense strategy in light of recent experiences and to address expectations about future challenges to U.S. national security.
REPORT
The authors look at the use of simulators in the Air Force, the Marines, and French and British forces to see if the Navy's current mix of simulator and live training should be changed substantially for the first time since the 1970s.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Suggests that the dramatic contraction of the aerospace industry may indeed jeopardize the future design and production of innovative and cost-effective military fighter aircraft.
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