FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Context and Selected Issues for Congress
Congressional research reportMay 31, 2023
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FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Context and
Selected Issues for Congress
May 31, 2023
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R47582
SUMMARY
FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Context and
Selected Issues for Congress
This report provides an overview of the $910.8 billion in total funding for national defenserelated activities requested in the FY2024 President’s budget, with a focus on the $842.0 billion
in discretionary funding requested for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Most funding for
national defense is subject to an annual defense authorization and appropriations process in
Congress.
R47582
May 31, 2023
Cameron M. Keys
Analyst in Defense
Logistics and Resource
Management Policy
Brendan W. McGarry
Specialist in U.S. Defense
Budget
According to DOD, the department’s portion of the FY2024 President’s budget request was
informed by the President’s 2022 National Security Strategy (NSS) and the Secretary of
Defense’s 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS). The 2022 NSS discussed U.S. worldwide
interests, goals, and objectives considered vital to national security, and identified among its
priorities “outcompeting” China and “constraining” Russia. In explaining how DOD plans to
support U.S. objectives articulated in the NSS, the 2022 NDS identified the following objectives: defending the homeland
(tied to the threat posed by the People’s Republic of China or PRC); deterring strategic attacks against the United States,
allies, and partners; deterring aggression, prioritizing the PRC, then Russia; and building a resilient Joint Force and defense
ecosystem.
On March 9, 2023, President Joe Biden submitted to Congress a $7 trillion budget request for FY2024. Of that amount,
$910.8 billion (13%) was for national defense-related activities, including $886.4 billion for discretionary programs and
$24.4 billion for mandatory programs. The FY2024 President’s budget requested $863.5 billion for DOD-Military activities;
$35.1 billion for atomic energy defense activities; and $12.1 billion for other defense-related activities. The $863.5 billion
requested for DOD-Military activities included $842.0 billion in discretionary funding and $21.5 billion in mandatory
funding. In nominal terms (i.e., not adjusting for inflation), the $842.0 billion requested for DOD activities in FY2024 is
$26.0 billion (3.2%) more than the $816.0 billion enacted for such activities in FY2023, excluding supplemental funding for
Ukraine and other purposes. In estimated real terms (i.e., adjusting for inflation), the FY2024 request is $6.9 billion (0.8%)
more than the amount enacted for such activities in FY2023, excluding supplemental funding for Ukraine and other purposes.
The FY2024 DOD budget requested funding for an end-strength of 2,074,000 military personnel in the active and reserve
components—13,344 (0.6%) fewer personnel than the FY2023 authorized level. The request included funding for a basic pay
raise of 5.2%, in line with the formula in current law. The DOD budget requested more funding than was enacted in FY2023
for the certain major weapon systems (e.g., Virginia-class submarine, F-35 fighter aircraft, and the Constellation-class frigate,
among others). The request included less funding than was enacted in FY2023 for other major weapon systems (e.g., Fordclass aircraft carrier, San Antonio-class landing platform dock ship, C-130J cargo aircraft, among others). The request
proposed $3.8 billion in operating cost savings from divesting or discontinuing a limited number of existing weapons systems
(e.g., A-10 attack aircraft, F-22 and F-15 fighter aircraft, and MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft; Littoral Combat Ships, docklanding ships, guided-missile cruisers; and missile detection systems, among others). The DOD budget requested $20.9
billion for Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. military operation against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and other
requirements in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. The department also identified $9 billion for the Pacific
Deterrence Initiative to expand force posture in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and $3.6 billion for the European Deterrence
Initiative to expand force posture in U.S. European Command—excluding $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance
Initiative to provide direct assistance to the military and security forces of Ukraine. DOD has indicated it plans to request
additional funding for Ukraine, if necessary, in supplemental appropriations.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects federal spending will continue to exceed revenues. This trend has raised
questions about whether pressure to reduce the federal deficit may affect defense budget plans. In recent decades, during
periods of widening gaps between revenues and outlays, Congress has sometimes enacted legislation intended to reduce the
deficit in part by limiting defense spending. In considering FY2024 defense authorization and appropriations legislation,
Congress may decide whether to authorize and appropriate lesser, the same, or greater amounts than those requested for these
and other national defense-related activities; allocate funding for DOD shorter- vs. longer-term priorities (e.g., readiness,
modernization, and force structure); and balance oversight with department budgetary flexibility.
Congressional Research Service
FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Context and Selected Issues for Congress
Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Strategic Context ....................................................................................................................... 2
Budgetary Context .................................................................................................................... 4
FY2024 President’s Budget Request ............................................................................................... 6
National Defense ....................................................................................................................... 6
Department of Defense (DOD)-Military............................................................................. 9
Inflation Assumptions and Effects ..................................................................................... 11
Selected DOD Budget Issues for Congress ................................................................................... 12
Military Personnel (MILPERS)-Related Matters .................................................................... 12
Military End-Strength ....................................................................................................... 13
Military Pay Raise............................................................................................................. 14
Concurrent Receipt ........................................................................................................... 14
Operation and Maintenance (O&M)-Related Matters............................................................. 15
Military Health System ..................................................................................................... 16
Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) ................................................................. 16
Other Selected Overseas Initiatives .................................................................................. 17
Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) and Procurement-Related
Matters ................................................................................................................................. 18
Precision-Guided Munitions and Multiyear Procurement (MYP) Authority .................... 19
Nuclear Modernization Programs ..................................................................................... 22
Missile Defense Programs and MYP Authority ................................................................ 23
Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems ................................................................................. 24
Aircraft and Related Systems............................................................................................ 25
Space Systems................................................................................................................... 26
Ground Systems ................................................................................................................ 27
Divestments ...................................................................................................................... 27
Military Construction (MILCON)-Related Matters ................................................................ 28
Climate-Related Activities ................................................................................................ 29
Figures
Figure 1. Outlays by Category and Revenues, FY2001-FY2028 (Projected) ................................. 5
Figure 2. National Defense Outlays, FY1940-FY2028 (Projected) ................................................ 6
Figure 3. FY2024 President’s Budget Request for National Defense Budget Function ................. 7
Figure 4. DOD Budget Authority by Public Law Title, FY1948-FY2024 (Requested) ................ 10
Tables
Table 1. Funding for National Defense by Budget Sub-function and Type, FY2023FY2024 (Requested) .................................................................................................................... 8
Table 2. DOD Base Discretionary Funding by Major Appropriation Title, FY2023FY2024 (Requested) .................................................................................................................... 9
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FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Context and Selected Issues for Congress
Table 3. DOD Active and Reserve Component End-Strength, FY2023-FY2024
(Requested)................................................................................................................................. 13
Table 4. Funding for Selected Overseas Activities, by Geographic Combatant Command ......... 17
Table 5. Funding for Selected Precision-Guided Munitions, FY2023-FY2024
(Requested)................................................................................................................................. 19
Table 6. Funding for Selected Nuclear Modernization Programs, FY2023-FY2024
(Requested)................................................................................................................................. 22
Table 7. Funding for Selected Missile Defense Systems, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested) ............. 23
Table 8. Funding for Selected Shipbuilding Programs, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested) ................ 24
Table 9. Funding for Selected Aircraft and Rotorcraft, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)................. 25
Table 10. Funding for Selected Space Systems, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested) ........................... 26
Table 11. Funding for Selected Ground Systems, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested) ......................... 27
Contacts
Author Information........................................................................................................................ 30
Congressional Research Service
FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Context and Selected Issues for Congress
Introduction
This report provides an overview of the $910.8 billion in total funding for national defenserelated activities in the FY2024 President’s budget request, with a focus on the $842.0 billion in
discretionary funding for U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) programs, projects, and activities.1
DOD is the largest U.S. government agency in terms of assets and personnel, with more than $3.5
trillion in reported assets and nearly three million military and civilian personnel.2 The
department’s 2.1 million military personnel and 795,000 civilian personnel work from more than
500 installations spanning 50 states, seven U.S. territories, and more than 40 countries.3 In
addition, approximately 60,000 companies provide contracted goods and services in support of
military requirements.4
Most funding for national defense is subject to an annual defense authorization and
appropriations process in Congress. This two-part process typically involves enactment of an
authorization act to set policy and recommend funding levels for defense programs, projects, and
activities; and appropriations acts to provide funding for such activities. A single bill, known as
the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), authorizes most appropriations for national
defense-related activities.5 Several appropriations acts provide funding for such activities—the
largest of which is the Department of Defense Appropriations Act.6 In considering FY2024
defense authorization and appropriations legislation, Congress may decide whether to authorize
and appropriate lesser, the same, or greater amounts than those requested for these and other
national defense-related activities; how to prioritize funding for DOD readiness, modernization,
and force structure; and how to balance congressional oversight with department budgetary
flexibility.
1 The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) budget request is delivered to the White House Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) and submitted to Congress as part of the President’s budget in accordance with 31 U.S.C. §1105 and 10
U.S.C. Ch. 9. In accordance with these laws, DOD sets procedures for displaying budget request information in DOD
Financial Management Regulation, DOD 7000.14-R, Volumes 2a and 2b, “Budget Formulation and Presentation,” at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/fmr/.
2 DOD, United States Department of Defense Agency Financial Report: Fiscal Year 2022, November 15, 2022, pp. 39,
41, at https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/afr/fy2022/DoD_FY22_Agency_Financial_Report.pdf.
3 Ibid., p. 12. DOD, Annual Energy Management and Resilience Report (AEMRR): Fiscal Year 2021, October 2022, p.
5, at https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/Downloads/IE/FY%202021%20AEMRR.pdf. See also 10 U.S.C §123b. DOD, Office
of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview, United States
Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 4-7, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY2024_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.
pdf.
4 National Defense Industrial Association, Vital Signs 2023, February 10, 2023, p. 13, at
https://www.ndia.org/policy/publications/vital-signs. Approximately 7,200 of these companies are active prime
contractors (i.e., companies contracting directly with DOD); the remaining companies are sub-contractors. See DOD,
Defense Manpower Profile Report: Fiscal Year 2023, July 2022, p. 131, at
https://prhome.defense.gov/Portals/52/Documents/RFM/MPP/docs/Cleared%20FY23%20DMPR%20%20Approved.pdf.
5 For overviews of the NDAA process and organization of the bill, see CRS In Focus IF10515, Defense Primer: The
NDAA Process, by Valerie Heitshusen and Brendan W. McGarry and CRS In Focus IF10516, Defense Primer:
Navigating the NDAA, by Brendan W. McGarry and Valerie Heitshusen.
6 Funding for national defense-related activities typically appears in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act;
Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs,
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act;
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and
Related Agencies Appropriations Act. For more information on the defense appropriations process, see CRS In Focus
IF10514, Defense Primer: Defense Appropriations Process, by James V. Saturno and Brendan W. McGarry.
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For more information on the FY2024 defense budget request, see CRS Video WVB00556,
FY2024 Defense Budget Request: Issues for Congress. For brief overviews of various defense
topics, see CRS Report R44757, Defense Primer: A Guide for New Members, by Bryce H. P.
Mendez and Lawrence Kapp. For points of contact on certain defense topics, see CRS Report
R47502, Defense and Intelligence: CRS Experts and Points of Contact, by Bryce H. P. Mendez.
Background
Strategic Context7
According to DOD, the President’s National Security Strategy (NSS) and the Secretary of
Defense’s National Defense Strategy (NDS) informed the department’s portion of the FY2024
President’s budget request.8 By law, the President is required to submit to Congress a National
Security Strategy (NSS; 50 U.S.C. §3043) and the Secretary of Defense a National Defense
Strategy (NDS; 10 U.S.C. §113).9 The NSS is intended to discuss U.S. worldwide interests, goals,
and objectives that are vital to national security. The NDS is intended to explain how DOD plans
to support U.S. objectives articulated in the NSS.
On October 12, 2022, President Joe Biden released his Administration’s 2022 National Security
Strategy.10 The document identified two overarching strategic challenges: (1) competition among
major powers (e.g., the United States and China) to shape the international order following the
end of the post-Cold War era; and (2) struggle among countries to cope with the effects of
borderless threats (e.g., climate change, food insecurity, communicable diseases, terrorism,
energy shortages, inflation).11 The document identified three priorities: (1) “outcompeting” China
and “constraining” Russia; (2) cooperating with allies and partners on shared challenges (e.g.,
climate and energy security, pandemics and biodefense, food insecurity, arms control and nonproliferation, and terrorism); and (3) shaping international rules in certain areas of dispute (e.g.,
technology, cyberspace, and trade and economics).12
On October 27, 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III released DOD’s 2022 National
Defense Strategy,13 published simultaneously with the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review and the 2022
Missile Defense Review.14 The 2022 NDS identified multiple strategic challenges facing the
7 This section was coordinated with Nathan J. Lucas, Section Research Manager of the Defense Policy and Arms
Control Section.
8 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 1-1.
9 See 50 U.S.C. §3043.
10 White House, “Fact Sheet: The Biden-Harris Administration’s National Security Strategy,” press release, October 12,
2022, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/12/fact-sheet-the-biden-harrisadministrations-national-security-strategy/.
11
White House, National Security Strategy, October 12, 2022, p. 6, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2022/11/8-November-Combined-PDF-for-Upload.pdf. For more background and analysis on great
power competition, see CRS Report R43838, Great Power Competition: Implications for Defense—Issues for
Congress, by Ronald O'Rourke.
12 Ibid., p. 23.
13 DOD, 2022 National Defense Strategy of the United States of America, October 27, 2022, at
https://media.defense.gov/2022/Oct/27/2003103845/-1/-1/1/2022-NATIONAL-DEFENSE-STRATEGY-NPRMDR.PDF.
14 For more information on the Nuclear Posture Review, see CRS In Focus IF12357, 2022 Nuclear Posture Review:
Selected Programmatic Issues, by Alexandra G. Neenan and CRS In Focus IF12266, 2022 Nuclear Posture Review, by
Paul K. Kerr .
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United States in the international security environment, including China as the challenge against
which to pace modernization of the armed forces and other activities of DOD; Russia as an
“acute” threat; and North Korea, Iran, and violent extremist organizations (e.g., al-Qaeda and the
Islamic State) as “persistent” threats.15 The document also identified challenges posed by
evolving technologies (e.g., hypersonic and counter-space weapons), competitors’ tactics in
military confrontations short of conventional war (i.e., the so-called gray zone),16 and climate
change and other borderless threats (e.g., more frequent extreme weather conditions and
pandemics).17
To address these challenges, the 2022 NDS identified the following priorities: defending the
homeland, tied to the threat posed by the PRC; deterring strategic attacks against the United
States, allies, and partners; deterring aggression, prioritizing PRC then Russia; and building a
resilient Joint Force and defense ecosystem.18 The document proposed an approach known as
integrated deterrence, advancing these priorities by using tools of national power and those of
allies and partners to deter potential adversaries, in part by the imposition of costs. The NDS also
proposed better coordinating military exercises and activities to shape operational environments,
an approach called campaigning. The document called for building enduring advantages in part
by updating business management practices and making improved technological investments.19
The 2022 NDS described sizing and shaping the armed forces “to simultaneously defend the
homeland; maintain strategic deterrence; and deter and, if necessary, prevail in conflict.”20 The
document does not articulate numbers or types of forces.
Some Members of the 118th Congress have proposed increasing defense funding at a level that
exceeds inflation, citing, in part, the need to prepare for long-term strategic competition with
China and Russia.21 Other Members have proposed limiting FY2024 discretionary funding to
FY2022 levels as part of a potential deal to raise the debt limit.22 Still other Members have
proposed setting limits on FY2024 and FY2025 discretionary funding for defense and nondefense activities. The House-introduced Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (H.R. 3746) would
15 DOD, 2022 National Defense Strategy of the United States of America, October 27, 2022, pp. III and 2.
16 For discussion of the term gray zone, see, for example, James J. Wirtz, “Life in the ‘Gray Zone’: observations for
contemporary strategists,” Defense and Security Analysis, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 106-114, at
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14751798.2017.1310702.
17 DOD, 2022 National Defense Strategy of the United States of America, October 27, 2022, p. 6.
18 Ibid., p. 7.
19 Ibid., pp. 8-13, 19-21.
20 Ibid., p. 17.
21 See, for example, Representative Dale Strong, remarks in U.S. Congress, House Committee on Armed Services, Full
Committee Hearing: “FY24 Defense Budget Request”, hearings, 118th Cong., 1st sess., March 29, 2023, at
https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings/full-committee-hearig-fy24-defense-budget-request [sic].
22 See, for example, House Freedom Caucus, “Shrink Washington, Grow America,” press release, March, 10, 2023,
published on the website of Representative Clay Higgins, at https://clayhiggins.house.gov/sites/evosubsites/clayhiggins.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/shrink-washington-grow-america-release.pdf. The Housepassed Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 (H.R. 2811) would limit discretionary spending to $1.47 trillion for FY2024
(excluding emergency appropriations and other specially designated funding). That figure equals the FY2022 level and
is $131.3 billion (8%) less than the FY2023 level enacted to date. For the FY2022 level, see CBO, Status of
Discretionary Appropriations Report, August 31, 2022, p. 2, at https://www.cbo.gov/system/files?file=202208/FY2022-House-2022-07-28.pdf. For the FY2023 level, see CBO, Status of Discretionary Appropriations Report,
February 10, 2023, p. 2, at https://www.cbo.gov/system/files?file=2023-02/FY2023-House-2022-12-23.pdf. For a brief
overview of the debt limit, see CRS In Focus IF10292, The Debt Limit, by Grant A. Driessen.
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limit discretionary funding for national defense activities to $886.3 billion in FY2024 and $895.2
billion in FY2025.23
Budgetary Context
National defense activities are supported with mostly discretionary funding but also some
mandatory (sometimes referred to as direct) funding.24 Congress provides discretionary funding
by enacting appropriations legislation. Congress controls mandatory and other funding (for
programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) typically by defining eligibility criteria
and setting benefit or payment rules in other laws.25
CBO projects federal spending will continue to exceed revenues (see Figure 1).26 This projection
raises questions about whether pressure to reduce the federal deficit may affect defense budget
plans. In particular, CBO projected a federal budget deficit of $1.4 trillion in 2023, or 5.4% of
GDP.27 CBO projected debt held by the public increasing to $25.7 trillion in 2023, or 98% of
GDP.28 (The organization’s 10-year forecast projected such debt increasing to 118% of GDP in
2033—which would mark the highest level ever recorded.29)
23 H.R. 3746, §101; 2 U.S.C. 900(c)(4)(D) states, “The term ‘revised security category’ means discretionary
appropriations in budget function 050.” For budget functions, see OMB, The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2024,
Supplemental Materials, Public Budget Database, User’s Guide, Table 2, “Table 2. Listing of Functions and
Subfunctions,” pp. 24-26, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/db_guide_fy2024.pdf.
24 In general, discretionary spending refers to outlays from budget authority provided in appropriations acts; mandatory,
or direct, spending refers to outlays from budget authority provided in other laws. For more information, see
Government Accountability Office (GAO), A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, GAO-05-734,
September 2005, pp. 46, 66, at https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-05-734sp.pdf.
25 For more information, see CRS Report R46468, A Brief Overview of the Congressional Budget Process, by James V.
Saturno; and CRS In Focus IF12105, Introduction to Budget Authority, by James V. Saturno.
26 OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Historical Tables, Table 1.3, “Summary of
Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits (-) in Current Dollars, Constant (FY 2012) Dollars, and as Percentages of
GDP: 1940-2028,” March 13, 2023, at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2024-TAB/xls/BUDGET2024-TAB-2-3.xlsx; Table 8.1, “Outlays by Budget Enforcement Act Category: 1962-2028,” at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2024-TAB/xls/BUDGET-2024-TAB-9-1.xlsx; and CBO, Budget and
Economic Data, 10-Year Budget Projections, Table 1-1, “CBO’s Baseline Budget Projections, by Category,” February
2023, at https://www.cbo.gov/data/budget-economic-data#3, and Spending Projections, by Budget Account, “February
2023 Baseline,” at https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2023-02/51142-2023-02-Spending-Projections.xlsx.
27 Congressional Budget Office (CBO), The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2023 to 2033, February 2023, p. 5, at
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2023-02/58848-Outlook.pdf.
28 Ibid., p. 6.
29 Ibid., “At a Glance.”
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Figure 1. Outlays by Category and Revenues, FY2001-FY2028 (Projected)
Source: Figure created by CRS using data from OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024,
Historical Tables, Table 1.3 and Table 8.1, March 2023; and CBO, Budget and Economic Data, 10-Year Budget
Projections, Table 1-1, and Spending Projections, by Budget Account, February 2023.
Notes: Amounts are in nominal, or current, dollars (i.e., not adjusted for inflation). FY2001-FY2022 amounts
from OMB; FY2023-FY2028 projections from CBO.
During periods of widening gaps between revenues and outlays, Congress has sometimes enacted
legislation intended to reduce the deficit in part by limiting defense spending.30 For example, after
the deficit reached nearly 10% of GDP in 2009,31 Congress enacted the Budget Control Act of
2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25), which reinstated statutory limits, or caps, on discretionary spending
from FY2012 to FY2021 and included separate annual limits for defense spending.
In December 2022, CBO identified options for reducing the deficit, such as by reducing DOD
funding by more than $1 trillion over a decade by changing military force structure.32 Other
options included smaller defense reductions, such as by capping increases in basic pay for
military service members, replacing some military personnel with civilian employees, stopping
building Ford-class aircraft carriers, reducing the size of the nuclear triad, canceling the LongRange Standoff Weapon (LRSO), canceling the Army’s Future Vertical Lift Aircraft program,
deferring development of the B-21 bomber, reducing the size of the bomber force by retiring the
B-1B, reducing the size of the fighter force by retiring the F-22, and reducing the Basic
Allowance for Housing (BAH) to 80% of average housing costs.33
Adjusting for inflation, the level of defense spending projected for national defense in FY2024 is
higher than during the Cold War-era military buildup of the 1980s and lower than during the
30 For more information and analysis on the discretionary spending caps under the Budget Control Act, see CRS Insight
IN12093, Were the Discretionary Spending Caps Effective?, by Megan S. Lynch; CRS Video WVB00305, Budget
Control Act: Overview, by Megan S. Lynch and Grant A. Driessen; and CRS Report R44039, The Defense Budget and
the Budget Control Act: Frequently Asked Questions, by Brendan W. McGarry.
31 OMB, Historical Tables, Table 1.2, “Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits (-) as percentages of
GDP: 1930-2025,” at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2024-TAB/xls/BUDGET-2024-TAB-2-2.xlsx.
32 CBO, Options for Reducing the Deficit, 2023 to 2032—Volume I: Larger Reductions, December 7, 2022, at
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2022-12/58164-budget-options-large-effects.pdf.
33 CBO, Options for Reducing the Deficit, 2023 to 2032—Volume II: Smaller Reductions, December 7, 2022, at
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2022-12/58163-budget-options-small-effects.pdf.
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height of post-9/11 operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defense spending is projected to increase
7% in real terms over the five-year period through FY2028 (see Figure 2).34
Figure 2. National Defense Outlays, FY1940-FY2028 (Projected)
Source: Figure created by CRS using data from OMB Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024,
Historical Tables, Table 3.1 and Table 10.1, March 2023; and CBO, Budget and Economic Data, Spending
Projections, by Budget Account, February 2023.
Notes: Figures adjusted to estimated constant FY2024 dollars using “Total Defense” deflator in OMB Table
10.1. FY2021-FY2022 amounts from OMB; FY2023-FY2028 projections from CBO.
FY2024 President’s Budget Request
On March 9, 2023, President Biden submitted to Congress a $7 trillion budget request for
FY2024.35 Of that amount, $910.8 billion (13%) was for national defense-related activities,
including discretionary and mandatory programs.36
National Defense
National defense is one of 20 major functions used by OMB to organize budget data, and is the
largest in terms of discretionary funding. Identified by the label 050, the national defense budget
function is the broadest measure by which the U.S. government categorizes defense funding. The
function comprises the following subfunctions: DOD-Military (identified by the notation 051),
including military and intelligence activities of DOD; Atomic energy defense activities (053),
including nuclear weapons and reactor programs of the Department of Energy; and Defenserelated activities (054), including national security activities of several other agencies, such as
34 When making budgetary projections, CBO is required to adhere to rules specified in §257 of the Balanced Budget
and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended (Title II of P.L. 99-177). For its projections of discretionary
funding related to federal personnel, CBO is required to use the employment cost index for wages and salaries to adjust
for inflation; for its projections of other types of discretionary funding, the agency is required to use the GDP price
index. For more information, see CBO, The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2023 to 2033, February 2023, p. 73.
35 OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Analytical Perspectives, Table 24-1, “Budget
Authority and Outlays by Function, Category, and Program,” March 13, 2023, at
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2024-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2024-PER-6-1-1.pdf.
36 Ibid.
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Federal Bureau of Investigation counterintelligence activities. Historically, DOD has received the
vast majority of funding within the national defense budget function.
Of the $910.8 billion (13%) requested for national defense-related activities in FY2024, $863.5
billion was for DOD-Military (12.3% of the federal budget); $35.1 billion was for atomic energy
defense activities (0.5%); and $12.1 billion was for defense-related activities (0.2%) (see Figure
3).
Figure 3. FY2024 President’s Budget Request for National Defense Budget Function
Source: Figure created by CRS using data from OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024,
Historical Tables, Table 5.1, March 2023.
Notes: Total budget authority includes funding for discretionary and mandatory programs. Amounts and
percentages may not sum due to rounding.
In nominal terms (i.e., not adjusting for inflation), the $910.8 billion requested for national
defense-related activities in FY2024 is $5.3 billion (0.6%) more than the $905.5 billion enacted
for such activities to date in FY2023, including supplemental funding for Ukraine and other
purposes.37 In estimated real terms (i.e., adjusting for inflation), the FY2024 request is $15.9
billion (1.7%) less than the amount enacted for such activities to date in FY2023, including
supplemental funding for Ukraine and other purposes (see Table 1).38
The FY2024 President’s budget request for national defense activities included a total of $886.4
billion in discretionary funding and $24.4 billion in mandatory funding. For DOD, funding for
most discretionary programs is authorized and appropriated for accounts within major budgetary
categories, or titles, such as operation and maintenance (O&M), military personnel (MILPERS),
research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E), and procurement. For DOD, funding for
mandatory programs mostly covers accrual payments for future concurrent receipt benefits, such
as military retired pay from DOD and disability compensation from the Department of Veterans
Affairs.39
37 Ibid.
38 CRS analysis of OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Analytical Perspectives, Table
24-1, and Historical Tables, Table 10.1, “Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical Tables: 19402028.”
39 For more information on FY2024 mandatory funding for concurrent receipt, see the “Concurrent Receipt” section.
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Table 1. Funding for National Defense by Budget Sub-function and Type,
FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of nominal and estimated constant FY2024 dollars of budget authority)
Budget Subfunction
FY23
Enacted
FY23 (in
Constant
FY24 $)
FY24
Request
$ Change
% Change
$ Change
(Real)
% Change
(Real)
DOD-Military
(051),
Discretionary
$848.81
$868.67
$842.01
-$6.80
-0.8%
-$26.66
-3.1%
DOD-Military
(051), Mandatory
$11.36
$11.63
$21.48
$10.12
89.1%
$9.85
84.7%
Subtotal, DODMilitary (051)
$860.18
$880.30
$863.49
$3.32
0.4%
-$16.81
-1.9%
Atomic energy
defense activities
(053),
Discretionary
$31.56
$32.30
$32.85
$1.29
4.1%
$0.55
1.7%
Atomic energy
defense activities,
053), Mandatory
$2.17
$2.22
$2.30
$0.13
6.0%
$0.08
3.6%
Subtotal,
Atomic energy
defense
activities (053)
$33.73
$34.52
$35.14
$1.42
4.2%
$0.63
1.8%
Subtotal,
Defense-related
activities (054),
Discretionary
$10.99
$11.25
$11.52
$0.53
4.8%
$0.28
2.5%
Subtotal,
Defense-related
activities (054),
Mandatory
$0.56
$0.58
$0.59
$0.03
5.3%
$0.02
2.9%
Subtotal,
Defense-related
activities (054)
$11.55
$11.82
$12.12
$0.56
4.9%
$0.29
2.5%
Subtotal, 050,
Discretionary
$891.36
$912.22
$886.38
-$4.99
-0.6%
-$25.84
-2.8%
Subtotal, 050,
Mandatory
$14.10
$14.42
$24.37
$10.28
72.9%
$9.95
69.0%
Total, 050
$905.46
$926.64
$910.75
$5.29
0.6%
-$15.89
-1.7%
Source: CRS analysis of OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Analytical Perspectives,
Table 24-1, and Historical Tables, Table 10.1, “Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical
Tables: 1940-2028.”
Notes: Amounts include FY2023 supplemental funding. Figures adjusted to estimated constant FY2024 dollars
using “Total Defense” deflator in OMB Table 10.1. Real changes are adjusted for inflation and based on the
figures in column “FY23 (in Constant FY24 $). Dollars rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to
nearest tenth.
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Department of Defense (DOD)-Military
Base Discretionary Funding for FY202440
In nominal terms (i.e., not adjusting for inflation), the $842.0 billion requested in base
discretionary funding for DOD-military activities in FY2024 is $26.0 billion (3.2%) more than
the $816.0 billion enacted for such activities in FY2023, excluding supplemental funding for
Ukraine and other purposes (see Table 2).41 In estimated real terms (i.e., adjusting for inflation),
the FY2024 request is $6.9 billion (0.8%) more than the amount enacted for such activities in
FY2023, excluding supplemental funding for Ukraine and other purposes.42
Table 2. DOD Base Discretionary Funding by Major Appropriation Title,
FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of nominal and estimated constant FY2024 dollars of budget authority)
Title
FY2023
Enacted
FY2023
(in
Constant
FY2024 $)
FY2024
Request
$ Change
% Change
$ Change
(Real)
MILPERS
$172.23
$176.27
$178.87
$6.64
3.9%
$2.61
1.5%
O&M
$319.91
$327.39
$329.75
$9.84
3.1%
$2.34
0.7%
Proc.
$163.74
$167.57
$170.05
$6.31
3.9%
$2.48
1.5%
RDT&E
$139.40
$142.67
$144.98
$5.58
4.0%
$2.31
1.6%
Other
$1.71
$1.75
$1.67
-$0.03
-2.0%
-$0.07
-4.2%
Defense
Billa
$796.98
$815.66
$825.33
$28.34
3.6%
$9.67
1.2%
MILCON
$16.67
$17.06
$14.73
-$1.94
-11.6%
-$2.33
-13.7%
Family
Housing
$2.33
$2.38
$1.94
-$0.39
-16.6%
-$0.44
-18.5%
MILCON
Billb
$19.00
$19.45
$16.68
-$2.33
-12.2%
-$2.77
-14.2%
$815.98
$835.11
$842.00
$26.02
3.2%
$6.93
0.8%
Total
% Change
(Real)
Source: CRS analysis of DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer,
Defense Budget Overview, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, Table
A-7.
Notes: Amounts exclude FY2023 supplemental funding. MILPERS is military personnel; O&M is operation and
maintenance; Proc. is procurement; RDT&E is research, development, test, and evaluation; MILCON is military
construction. Other includes revolving funds and offsetting receipts. Figures adjusted to estimated constant
FY2024 dollars using “Total Defense” deflator in OMB Table 10.1. Real changes are adjusted for inflation and
40 The DOD base budget generally refers to the regularly recurring costs to staff, train, and equip the armed services; it
excludes supplemental or specially designated funding for emergencies or other purposes.
41 CRS analysis of DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense
Budget Overview, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, Table A-7,
“DoD Base Budget by Appropriation Title,” p. A-5, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY2024_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.
pdf; and OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Analytical Perspectives, Table 24-1, and
Table 10.1.
42 Ibid.
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based on the figures in column “FY2023 (in Constant FY24 $).” Figures may not sum due to rounding. Dollars
rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to nearest tenth.
a. Funding for these activities is typically provided in the annual Department of Defense Appropriations Act.
b. Funding for these activities is typically provided in the annual Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and
Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
In terms of major DOD appropriation titles, the department requested the largest share of FY2024
discretionary funding, 39.2%, for Operation and Maintenance (or O&M) to cover the operating
costs of the armed services; followed by 21.2% for Military Personnel (or MILPERS) to pay for
service members; 20.2% for Procurement to buy weapons, equipment, and services; 17% for
Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (or RDT&E) to develop new technology; and 2%
for military construction (or MILCON) and family housing.43 Like the overall federal budget, the
makeup of the DOD budget has changed over time. FY2024 requested funding for O&M and
RDT&E, for example, constitute larger percentages, and for Procurement, MILPERS, and
MILCON smaller percentages, of the DOD budget than their historical averages since FY1948,
illustrating shifts in priorities relating to readiness, modernization, and force structure (see Figure
4).44
Figure 4. DOD Budget Authority by Public Law Title, FY1948-FY2024 (Requested)
Source: Figure created by CRS using data from DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller),
National Defense Budget Estimates for FY 2023, Table 6-8, July 2022; and OMB, Budget of the United States
Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Historical Tables, Table 5.1, March 2023.
Notes: MILPERS is military personnel; O&M is operation and maintenance; Proc. is procurement; RDT&E is
research, development, test, and evaluation; MILCON is military construction and family housing. Percentages
for other categories (i.e., Revolving and Management Funds; Trust, Receipts, and Other; and War Out-year
Placeholder) are not shown. FY1948-FY2021 amounts from DOD; FY2022-FY2024 amounts from OMB.
Supplemental Funding in FY2022 and FY2023 to Date
In addition to providing funding for planned or regularly occurring costs to staff, train, and equip
the military, Congress sometimes provides funding for emergencies and unforeseen
43 Ibid., p. A-2. For more background and analysis on the DOD budget, see CRS Report R46965, The Department of
Defense (DOD) Budget: An Orientation, by Pat Towell.
44 Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen H. Hicks has previously described balancing funding for readiness, investment
(or modernization) and force structure as the “iron triangle of painful trade-offs.” See, for example, Kathleen Hicks,
Defense Strategy and the Iron Triangle of Painful Tradeoffs, Center for Strategic and International Studies, June 21,
2017, at https://defense360.csis.org/defense-strategy-and-the-iron-triangle-of-painful-tradeoffs/.
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contingencies. As one analyst has said of the challenge of allocating defense funding for strategic
priorities, “reality gets a vote.”45
Congress has provided a combined total of $70.2 billion in supplemental funding for DOD in
FY2022 and FY2023 to date, mostly for the department’s response to Russia’s renewed and
expanded invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.46 In FY2022, Congress provided $34.4 billion in
supplemental funding for DOD (4.4% of total DOD discretionary funding), including $26.6
billion for Ukraine, $6.5 billion for the resettlement of Afghans in the United States and
elsewhere, $895 million for natural disaster relief, and $350 million to address fuel tank leaks at
the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii.47 In FY2023 to date, Congress has provided
$35.8 billion in supplemental funding for DOD, including $35.7 billion for Ukraine and $147
million for natural disaster relief (4.2% of total DOD discretionary funding).48
Congress may consider whether to provide DOD with additional supplemental funding for these
or other activities in FY2023, or supplemental funding for these or other activities in FY2024.
Inflation Assumptions and Effects49
The FY2024 President’s budget request, including the DOD portion of the request, assumed an
inflation rate of 2.4% in FY2024, beginning October 1, 2023.50 Congress has expressed interest in
how relatively high levels of inflation have affected DOD programs, projects, and activities. For
example, according to the Appropriations Committees, the Department of Defense Appropriations
Act, 2023, provided nearly $8 billion to address price increases caused by higher-than-projected
inflation, including for assistance to military families, fuel and utilities, medical care, and
procurement and R&D programs.51 According to DOD, the department’s FY2024 budget request
addresses “the recent inflationary impacts driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption
of global supply chains and Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.”52
Differences between forecast and actual inflation have raised questions about the effectiveness of
using real growth (i.e., the annual percentage increase after adjusting for inflation) as a standard
45 Mackenzie Eaglen, “Hard Power, Hard Choices, and Cold, Hard Cash,” Horns of a Dilemma podcast, War on the
Rocks, March 17, 2023, at https://warontherocks.com/2023/03/hard-power-hard-choices-and-cold-hard-cash/.
46 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. A-5. For more information on
DOD supplemental funding for Ukraine, see CRS Insight IN12107, Department of Defense Supplemental Funding for
Ukraine: A Summary, by Brendan W. McGarry.
47 Ibid., p. A-7.
48 Ibid.
49 According to the consumer price index (CPI), inflation stood at a seasonally adjusted 6.4% for the year ending in
December, down from the June 2022 peak of 9.0%—but still well above the 2011-2020 average of 1.7%. For more
information, see CRS Insight IN12091, Will Inflation Continue to Fall?, by Lida R. Weinstock and Marc Labonte.
50 CRS analysis of OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Historical Tables, Table 10.1,
GDP (Chained) Price Index deflator; and DOD, “Comptroller Michael J. McCord and Vice Adm. Sara A. Joyner Hold
a Press Briefing on President Biden's Fiscal 2024 Defense Budget,” transcript, March 13, 2023, at
https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3327901/comptroller-michael-j-mccord-and-vice-admsara-a-joyner-hold-a-press-briefing-o/.
51 House Committee on Appropriations, “Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations Bill Summary: Defense,” press release,
December 23, 2022, at https://democratsappropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/Defense%20FY23%20Summary.pdf; and
Senate Committee on Appropriations, “Summary, Subcommittee on Defense, Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations Bill,”
press release, December 19, 2022, at https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Defense%20FY%2023.pdf.
52 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 4-1.
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to evaluate the defense budget.53 While DOD follows OMB assumptions for inflation in its
overall budget request,54 the department uses multiple price indices to estimate price changes in
various types of activities.55 In certain cases, FY2024 budget justification documents released by
the individual military departments may not incorporate, or may only partially incorporate, the
effects of inflation on estimated program costs.
Congress may choose to reevaluate inflation and other cost assumptions underlying DOD budget
requests when considering FY2024 defense legislation, including how changes in such
assumptions might affect estimated program costs in FY2024 and future years.56 In the past, CBO
identified options for adjusting appropriations when economic assumptions about inflation
change, including: distinguish inflation costs from program costs; establish a special inflation
fund; or fund inflation through supplemental appropriations.57
Selected DOD Budget Issues for Congress
With DOD accounting for $842.0 billion (95%) of the $886.4 billion in discretionary funding
requested for national defense in FY2024,58 the annual budget process provides an opportunity
for Congress to consider funding levels for various elements of the armed services. This section
of the report discusses FY2024 funding requested for selected DOD matters.59
Military Personnel (MILPERS)-Related Matters
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $178.9 billion for military personnel (MILPERS) accounts—
$6.6 billion (4%) more than the FY2023 enacted level, excluding supplemental funding.60
MILPERS accounts typically fund cash compensation for military personnel, including basic pay,
housing allowances, and special pays and bonuses for which some personnel are eligible.61
MILPERS accounts also typically fund deferred (i.e., post-retirement) compensation—including
military retired pay, Thrift Savings Plan retirement contributions, and the retiree health care plan
53 See, for example, Travis Sharp, How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate Real Growth, Analysis of the 2023
Defense Budget Request, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, July 18, 2022, at
https://csbaonline.org/research/publications/how-i-learned-to-start-worrying-and-hate-real-growth-analysis-of-the2023-defense-budget-request.
54 DOD, Department of Defense Inflation Handbook, 2 nd Edition, June 2011, p. 53, at https://acqnotes.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/09/DoD-Inflation-Handbook-2nd-Edition.pdf.
55 See, for example, DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), National Defense Budget Estimates
for FY 2024, Chapter 5, “Treatment of Inflation,” May 2023, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY24_Green_Book.pdf.
56 The Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2023 (Division C of P.L. 117-328) included inflation-related
adjustments, including in DOD O&M accounts for utilities costs.
57 CBO, Budgeting for Defense Inflation, January 1986, pp. 40-48, at https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/99thcongress-1985-1986/reports/86doc03b0.pdf.
58 OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Analytical Perspectives, Table 24-1.
59 CRS analysts identified the following topics based in part on interest and debate in the 118 th Congress, 1st session.
60 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, Table A-7.
61 For more background and analysis, see CRS Report R46965, The Department of Defense (DOD) Budget: An
Orientation, by Pat Towell, by Pat Towell.
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known as TRICARE for Life—as well as permanent change of station travel and other
expenses.62
Military End-Strength63
The FY2024 DOD budget requested a military end-strength of 2,074,000 personnel, including
1,305,400 in the active components and 768,600 in the reserve components.64 Compared to
authorized end-strength levels from Section 401 of the James M. Inhofe National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (P.L. 117-263), the FY2024 budget requested 11,544
fewer personnel in the active components, with most of the decrease requested for the Navy and
Marine Corps.65 The budget requested a reserve component end-strength of 768,600 personnel—
1,800 fewer personnel than the FY2023 authorized level, with most of the decrease requested for
the Army Reserve (see Table 3).66 While the Army’s FY2024 active end-strength would remain
unchanged in comparison to the FY2023 enacted end-strength, it reflects 33,000 fewer soldiers
than the FY2022 enacted level—a decrease that has raised questions among experts about the
effectiveness of recruiting and the proper size of ground forces.67
Table 3. DOD Active and Reserve Component End-Strength,
FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in number of military personnel)
Service
FY2023 Enacted
FY2024 Request
# Change
% Change
Army
452,000
452,000
0
0.0%
Navy
354,000
347,000
-7,000
-2.0%
Marine Corps
177,000
172,300
-4,700
-2.7%
Air Force
325,344
324,700
-644
-0.2%
Space Force
8,600
9,400
800
9.3%
Subtotal, Active
Components
1,316,944
1,305,400
-11,544
-0.9%
Army Reserve
177,000
174,800
-2,200
-1.2%
Navy Reserve
57,000
57,200
200
0.4%
62 Ibid.
63 For additional background and analysis on military end-strength, see CRS Report R43808, Army Active Component
(AC)/Reserve Component (RC) Force Mix: Considerations and Options for Congress, by Andrew Feickert and
Lawrence Kapp; CRS Report R44612, How Big Should the Army Be? Considerations for Congress, coordinated by
Lawrence Kapp; and CRS Insight IN11994, FY2023 NDAA: Active Component End-Strength, by Lawrence Kapp.
64 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, pp. A-4 to A-5.
65 James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (P.L. 117-263, Div. A, Title IV, §§401,
411); DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget
Overview, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. A-4. “End-strength”
refers to a quantity of military personnel at the end of a fiscal year. “Actual strength” at the end of a fiscal year can be
less than the authorized or enacted end-strength. DOD projects that it will end FY2023 with a total active duty actual
strength about 21,000 less than authorized and enacted end-strength.
66 Ibid., p. A-5.
67 See, for example, Thomas Spoehr, The Incredible Shrinking Army: NDAA End Strength Levels Are a Mistake, The
Heritage Foundation, January 4, 2023, at https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/the-incredible-shrinking-armyndaa-end-strength-levels-are-mistake.
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Service
FY2023 Enacted
FY2024 Request
# Change
% Change
Marine Corps
Reserve
33,000
33,600
600
1.8%
Air Force Reserve
70,000
69,600
-400
-0.6%
Army National
Guard
325,000
325,000
0
0.0%
Air National Guard
108,400
108,400
0
0.0%
Subtotal, Reserve
Components
770,400
768,600
-1,800
-0.2%
Total, Military
Personnel
2,087,344
2,074,000
-13,344
-0.6%
Source: CRS analysis of James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (P.L. 117-263,
Div. A, Title IV, §§401, 411); DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial
Officer, Defense Budget Overview, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023,
pp. A-4 to A-5.
Notes: End-strength refers to quantities of military personnel at the end of a fiscal year. For information on
DOD civilian personnel, see ibid., p. 4-7. Percentages rounded to nearest tenth.
Military Pay Raise68
The FY2024 DOD budget request includes funding for a basic pay raise of 5.2%, in line with the
formula in current law.69 Title 37, Section 1009 of the U.S. Code provides a permanent formula
for an automatic annual adjustment of basic pay based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures changes in the wages and salaries of civilian,
private industry, and state and local government workers. The FY2024 basic pay raise request of
5.2% is the largest since FY2002.70
Concurrent Receipt71
In the military retirement context, concurrent receipt typically refers to provisions of law
allowing certain retirees to receive two types of federal monetary benefits: military retired pay
from DOD and disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The
FY2024 President’s budget request included $20.7 billion in mandatory funding for accrual
68 For additional background and analysis on the military pay raise, see CRS In Focus IF10260, Defense Primer:
Military Pay Raise, by Lawrence Kapp; CRS Video WVB00429, Pay and Allowances of the Armed Forces, by
Lawrence Kapp; and CRS Report RL33446, Military Pay: Key Questions and Answers, by Lawrence Kapp and
Barbara Salazar Torreon.
69 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 4-1.
70 P.L. 107-107, §601 waived the 37 U.S.C. §1009 adjustment in favor of basic pay raises, which varied between 5%
and 10% depending on rank and years of service with a 6.9% average increase in basic pay for FY2002. In addition to
basic pay, servicemembers receive other forms of military compensation including free government housing or housing
allowance; subsistence allowance; subsidized child care for dependents; educational benefits; health care; as well as
deferred compensation such as retirement benefits. For historical data on basic pay increases, see CRS Report
RL33446, Military Pay: Key Questions and Answers, by Lawrence Kapp and Barbara Salazar Torreon.
71 This section was coordinated with Kristy N. Kamarck, Specialist in Military Manpower. For an overview of
concurrent receipt, see CRS In Focus IF10594, Defense Primer: Concurrent Receipt of Military Retirement and VA
Disability, by Kristy N. Kamarck. For more background and analysis on concurrent receipt, see CRS Report R40589,
Concurrent Receipt of Military Retired Pay and Veteran Disability: Background and Issues for Congress, by Kristy N.
Kamarck and Mainon A. Schwartz.
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payments for future concurrent receipt benefits—$10.1 billion (95%) more than the $10.6 billion
budgeted for such payments in FY2023.72 The increase followed updated assumptions of the
DOD Board of Actuaries in 2022 to reflect higher Department of the Treasury costs for
concurrent receipt accrual payments.73 In particular, the normal cost percentage (NCP)—the share
of a full-time servicemember’s basic pay used to determine an actuarial value of retirement
benefits to fund each year—is 28.3% for the Treasury Department to pay concurrent receipt costs
in FY2024, up from a previous estimate of 16.1%.74 The board cited several factors as
contributing to increasing concurrent receipt costs, including greater incentives among
servicemembers to apply for the benefits, broader definitions of disability and higher disability
ratings by the VA, and higher incidence of combat-related disability from recent conflicts.75 The
board recommended that Congress avoid understating DOD’s true costs associated with
retirement benefits by amending or reinterpreting language in 10 U.S.C. §1465(c)(1) and (c)(4) so
that DOD rather than Treasury funds at least a portion of the normal cost contributions to the
Military Retirement Fund for concurrent receipt.76
Operation and Maintenance (O&M)-Related Matters
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $329.7 billion for operation and maintenance (O&M)
accounts—$9.8 billion (3%) more than the FY2023 enacted level, excluding supplemental
funding.77
O&M accounts fund day-to-day requirements for military forces and operating bases, including
food, clothing, and fuel; training and education of military personnel; civilian salaries; mission
support to combatant commands; depot maintenance; spare parts; and certain activities of the
Military Health System.78 O&M accounts also fund various overseas activities, such as the
Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative; the Counter-ISIS Train and Equipment Fund; Overseas
Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid; environmental restoration activities; and the DOD
Acquisition Workforce Development Fund; among other efforts.79 DOD has identified certain
O&M line items (also known as Sub-Activity Groups, or SAGs) as related to military readiness,
72 OMB, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Analytical Perspectives, Table 24-1. These figures
exclude additional concurrent receipt costs associated with unfunded liability payments.
73 DOD, Board of Actuaries, Minutes of the June 24, 2022, Meeting of the DoD Board of Actuaries, July 29, 2022, p.
162 (of the PDF), at
https://actuary.defense.gov/Portals/15/2022%20DoD%20Board%20of%20Actuaries%20Meeting%20Minutes%20%28
Final%29.pdf. The board is an independent advisory committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA; 5
U.S.C. Appendix) that approves the methods and assumptions used in calculating the normal cost percentages (NCP).
With respect to concurrent receipt provisions, the DOD NCPs must be determined without regard to 10 U.S.C. §1413a
or §1414.
74 Ibid.
75 Letter from DOD Board of Actuaries to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, “RE: Transferring the Cost of the
Military Retirement Fund (MFR) from DoD to Treasury Due to Increasing Concurrent Receipt Benefits,” December 2,
2022, p. 2, on file with the authors.
76 Ibid., p. 3.
77 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, Table A-7.
78 For more background and analysis, see CRS Report R46965, The Department of Defense (DOD) Budget: An
Orientation, by Pat Towell.
79 Ibid. For more information on FY2024 funding requested for these and other overseas activities, see the “Other
Selected Overseas Initiatives” section.
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which DOD defines as “the ability of military forces to fight and meet the demands of assigned
missions.”80
Military Health System81
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $58.7 billion for the Military Health System (MHS), which
provides health care to approximately 9.5 million military personnel, retirees, and family
members through military treatment facilities and certain civilian health care providers.
Accounting for 7.0% of the FY2024 DOD budget request, MHS is $0.3 billion more than the
enacted FY2023 level. The MHS request includes $38.4 billion for the Defense Health Program
(a subset of O&M funding); $9.2 billion for medical military personnel compensation; $10.6
billion of contributions to a fund for future health care expenses of Medicare-eligible military
retirees and families; and $0.5 billion for medical military construction.82 Congress may consider
whether to seek additional information from DOD on plans for controlling long-term costs for
overall health care, as private-sector care now accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total
care delivered to beneficiaries; as well as on efforts to measure the efficiency and/or costeffectiveness of certain MHS reforms.
Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI)83
To date, Congress has provided $113 billion in FY2022 and FY2023 supplemental funding in
response to Russia’s renewed and expanded invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, including $62
billion for DOD.84 The FY2024 DOD budget requested $300 million for the Ukraine Security
Assistance Initiative (USAI) to provide direct security assistance to Ukraine’s military and
security forces.85 DOD has generally used USAI funding to procure weapons from defense
contractors for Ukraine and Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to transfer weapons from
existing defense stocks to Ukraine.86
In previous fiscal year budget requests, DOD included USAI funding in a separate budget
document (i.e., a budget display) for the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI). In the FY2024
budget request, DOD described separating USAI funds from EDI in part to distinguish funds
directly supporting Ukraine from those aimed at reassuring allies and partner nations in the
region. The department stated that the “EDI budget request continues to demonstrate the
80 For additional background and analysis, see CRS Report R46559, The Fundamentals of Military Readiness.
81 This section was coordinated with Bryce H.P. Mendez, Analyst in Defense Health Care Policy. For additional
background and analysis on the Military Health System, see CRS In Focus IF12377, FY2024 Budget Request for the
Military Health System; CRS In Focus IF10530, Defense Primer: Military Health System, by Bryce H. P. Mendez;
CRS Insight IN11991, FY2023 NDAA: TRICARE for Reservists, by Bryce H. P. Mendez; CRS In Focus IF11109,
Defense Health Primer: Selected Contraceptive Services, by Bryce H. P. Mendez.
82 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, pp. 4-7, 4-8.
83 For more background and analysis on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, see CRS Video WVB00566, U.S.
Assistance for Ukraine: Budget and Appropriations, by Cory Welt et al.; and CRS Report R47054, Russia’s 2022
Invasion of Ukraine: Related CRS Products, by Zoe Danon and David A. Blum.
84 For more information, see CRS Insight IN12107, Department of Defense Supplemental Funding for Ukraine: A
Summary, by Brendan W. McGarry.
85 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 3-3.
86 For more information on USAI, see CRS In Focus IF12040, U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine, by Christina L.
Arabia, Andrew S. Bowen, and Cory Welt.
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Department’s focus on providing the right capabilities throughout Europe to deter adversary
threats.”87
The FY2024 DOD budget request did not identify potential additional supplemental funding in
FY2023 or FY2024 for Ukraine. In releasing the FY2024 DOD budget request, Under Secretary
of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer Michael J. McCord said, “Ukraine support
above the pre-conflict levels is not in this budget. The situation remains too fluid. The way we’re
handling this is the way we’ve handled every emerging operation in the last 50 years, and that is
supplementals, so that is what we’re doing in ’23. That would be the plan for ’24.”88
Other Selected Overseas Initiatives89
DOD summarizes funding for selected U.S. military operations and initiatives abroad in separate
budget documents. For example, DOD publishes a budget document for the Pacific Deterrence
Initiative, which is intended to expand U.S. force posture and presence in the Indo-Pacific
region.90 Similarly, the department publishes a budget document for the European Deterrence
Initiative (EDI), which is intended to enhance U.S. force posture in the European theater
following Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.91 Table 4 lists funding
for selected overseas activities by geographic combatant command.92
Table 4. Funding for Selected Overseas Activities,
by Geographic Combatant Command
(in billions of dollars of budget authority)
Activity (Relevant CRS Product)
FY2023 Enacted
FY2024 Request
European Command (EUCOM)
European Deterrence Initiative (IF10946)
$4.3
$3.6
DOD Contribution to NATOa (R45652)
$0.8
$0.9
Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (IF12040)
$12.3
$0.3
$6.1 (Requested)
$9.1
Indo-Pacific Command (INDO-PACOM)
Pacific Deterrence Initiative (IF12303)
87 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, European Deterrence
Initiative: Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, March 2023, p. 23, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY2024_EDI_JBook.pdf; and DOD, Office
of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview, United States
Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 3-3.
88 DOD, “Comptroller Michael J. McCord and Vice Adm. Sara A. Joyner Hold a Press Briefing on President Biden's
Fiscal 2024 Defense Budget,” transcript, March 13, 2023, at
https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3327901/comptroller-michael-j-mccord-and-vice-admsara-a-joyner-hold-a-press-briefing-o/.
89 This section was coordinated with Paul Belkin, Analyst in European Affairs; Christina L. Arabia, Analyst in Security
Assistance, Security Cooperation and the Global Arms Trade; and Luke A. Nicastro, Analyst in U.S. Defense
Infrastructure Policy.
90 P.L. 116-283, §1251(e); and 10 U.S.C. §113 note: Pacific Deterrence Initiative (see, in particular, paragraph f).
Congress mandates a number of reporting requirements for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative in addition to the budget
document.
91 10 U.S.C. §221 note: Inclusion of European Deterrence Initiative in Annual Budget Display Information (see, in
particular, paragraph b).
92 Amounts include funding in multiple appropriation titles.
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Activity (Relevant CRS Product)
FY2023 Enacted
FY2024 Request
Central Command (CENTCOM)
Operation Inherent Resolve (R44519)
$5.5
$6.2
Other Theater Requirements and Related
Missions (R44519)
$20.3
$14.7
Source: DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget
Overview, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, pp. 3-1 to 3-5.
Notes: Amounts include funding in multiple appropriation titles and do not reflect total funding for Combatant
Command activities. For PDI, the budget overview does not state an FY2023 enacted amount. Other Theater
Requirements and Related Missions includes Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF)-Horn of Africa and JTFGuantanamo. For USAI, the FY2024 request reflects pre-conflict levels and excludes potential supplemental
requests. Dollars rounded to the nearest tenth.
a. Under current NATO cost-sharing arrangements, the United States pays an approximately 16% share of
NATO’s three so-called “common funds,” the civil budget, the military budget, and the NATO Security and
Investment Program. National contributions to the common funds pay for the day-to-day operations of
NATO headquarters, as well as some collective NATO military assets and infrastructure. For more
information, see NATO, “Funding NATO,” updated regularly at
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_67655.htm.
Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) and
Procurement-Related Matters
The budget requested $145.0 billion for research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E)
accounts—$5.6 billion (4%) more than the FY2023 enacted level, excluding supplemental
funding.93 RDT&E accounts fund the development and application of scientific knowledge to
generate and test prototypes of new military equipment, upgrades to existing equipment, military
software and digital technology.
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $170.0 billion for procurement accounts—$6.3 billion (4%)
more than the FY2023 enacted level, excluding supplemental funding.94 Procurement accounts
typically fund the purchase of new equipment and modifications to existing weapons, including
ships, aircraft, military satellites, ground combat vehicles, munitions, and various other products
and services.
In general, budgetary line items within the RDT&E and procurement accounts fund the
acquisition of major defense acquisition programs. This section provides an overview of funding
for selected major weapon systems, including precision-guided munitions, nuclear modernization
programs, missile defense systems, shipbuilding programs, aircraft, space systems, ground
systems, and related topics.95
93 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. A-5.
94 Ibid.
95 The items identified in the tables below reflect only a fraction of DOD funding requested for weapons systems, as
smaller acquisition programs (in terms of dollar value) account for the majority of such expenditures.
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Precision-Guided Munitions and Multiyear Procurement (MYP) Authority
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $30.6 billion for missiles and other precision-guided
munitions—$5.9 billion more (24%) more than the FY2023 requested amount.96 Examples of
such munitions include the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), an air-launched cruise
missile designed to strike targets in heavily defended airspace; the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), a
sea-launched missile designed to provide ship- and area-defense; the Advanced Medium-Range
Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), an air-launched missile designed to strike low- and high-altitude
targets beyond visual range; the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), an air-launched cruise
missile designed to target surface ships; the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), a
ground-launched truck-mounted rocket system designed to target materiel and personnel; and the
Naval Strike Missile, a sea-launched anti-ship cruise missile designed to fly close to the ocean
surface to avoid radar detection (see Table 5). Amid Ukraine’s demand for U.S. and European
weapons systems, particularly munitions, in response to Russia’s renewed and expanded invasion
of the country, some Members of Congress have raised questions about how funding levels and
contracting authorities may affect the ability of the U.S. industrial base to accelerate the
manufacture of such systems.97
Table 5. Funding for Selected Precision-Guided Munitions,
FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority and quantities)
Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted #
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
Joint Air-to-Surface
Standoff Missile
(R45996)
$0.90
550
$1.82
550
$0.92
101.6%
Standard Missile-6
(R45996)
$0.80
125
$1.62
125
$0.82
102.1%
Advanced Medium
Range Air-to-Air
Missile
$0.74
608
$1.22
831
$0.48
65.4%
Long-Range Anti-Ship
Missile (R45996)
$0.55
83
$1.07
118
$0.52
93.8%
Guided Multiple Launch
Rocket System
(R45996)
$1.34
5,954
$1.03
5,064
$-0.31
-23.3%
Naval Strike Missile
(R45996)
$0.24
154
$0.25
103
$0.01
3.4%
Source: DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Program
Acquisition Cost by Weapon System, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March
2023, pp. xv-xvi.
96 Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Program Acquisition Cost by
Weapon System, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, pp. i, ix, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY2024_Weapons.pdf
97 See, for example, Senator John Cornyn, “A Conversation with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): China, Russia, and
America’s Military Readiness,” remarks at the American Enterprise Institute, January 23, 2023, at
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/230123-Sen.-John-Cornyn-R-TX-on-China-Russia-and-AmericasMilitary-Readiness.pdf.
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Notes: Amounts include RDT&E and Procurement funding. The “#” symbol indicates quantities. Funding for the
LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, Trident D5 missile modifications, and Long-Range Stand-Off
cruise missile is listed in Table 6. Dollars rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to nearest tenth.
Multiyear Procurement (MYP) Authority for Selected Precision-Guided
Munitions98
In describing munitions funding as an area of budgetary emphasis, DOD Comptroller McCord
said, “Ukraine has really informed and highlighted the need to up our game here ... We are, for
the first time ever, expanding the multiyear procurement authority which has been in law for
decades beyond platforms like ships, airplanes and helicopters into the munitions and missile
space.”99 McCord also said, “It was often considered that you buy munitions in much higher
quantities generally than airplanes and ships so that multi-years weren’t necessary and weren’t
done. But we have still found the industrial base is not where it needs to be.”100
The FY2024 DOD budget requested authority for using multiyear procurement (MYP) contracts
scheduled to begin in FY2024 for procuring the following precision-guided munitions:101
•
•
•
At least 18,000 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets for
the Army over a four-year period through FY2027;102
At least 516 Navy Strike Missiles (NSM) for the Navy over a five-year period
through FY2028;103
An unspecified number of Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles
(AMRAAM) for the Air Force over an unspecified duration;104
98 This section was coordinated with Ronald O’Rourke, Specialist in Naval Affairs. For more background and analysis
on multi-year procurement authority, see CRS Report R41909, Multiyear Procurement (MYP) and Block Buy
Contracting in Defense Acquisition: Background and Issues for Congress. For more background and analysis on
certain types of munitions, see CRS Report R45996, Precision-Guided Munitions: Background and Issues for
Congress.
99 DOD, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), “Briefing by the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief
Financial Officer Michael J. McCord and Vice Adm. Sara Joyner, director, Force Structure, Resources and Assessment,
Joint Staff,” transcript, March 13, 2023, at
https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3327901/comptroller-michael-j-mccord-and-vice-admsara-a-joyner-hold-a-press-briefing-o/.
100 Ibid.
101 In addition to the items in the bulleted list below, DOD requested authority for using an MYP contract for the Patriot
Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE). For more information, see the “MYP Authority
for Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE)” section.
102 Ibid., Guided MLRS Rocket (GMLRS), at https://comptroller.defense.gov/BudgetMaterials/#:~:text=Guided%20MLRS%20Rocket%20(GMLRS). On May 9, 2023, the Biden Administration submitted
a budget amendment with language for a general provision that would authorize DOD to use funds for MYP contracts
for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) and Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 Missile Segment
Enhancement (MSE). For more information, see OMB, Supplementals, Amendments, and Releases, “Estimate #1 – FY
2024 Budget Amendments: Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban
Development, and Transportation as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, for International Assistance
Programs, the National Science Foundation, and the Legislative Branch,” May 9, 2023, p. 8, at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/FY_2024_Budget_Amendment_Corrections_5-9-23.pdf.
103 Ibid., Navy Strike Missile (NSM), at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/MYP_Exhibits/NSM_NAVY_MYP_1-3.pdf.
104 Ibid., Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/MYP_Exhibits/AMRAAM_AIR_FORCE_M
YP_1.pdf.
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•
•
•
An unspecified number of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) for
the Air Force over an unspecified duration;105
At least 477 Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) for the Navy over a fiveyear period through FY2028 and an unspecified number for the Air Force over an
unspecified duration;106 and
At least 825 Standard Missile (SM)-6 missiles for the Navy over a five-year
period through FY2028.107
While DOD typically manages long-term contracts by extending one-year contract options, the
department sometimes uses multiyear procurement (MYP) authority to purchase up to five years
of requirements in a single contract action for programs meeting certain criteria (10 U.S.C.
§3501).108 Since multi-year-procurement (MYP) contracts involve a legal commitment to
purchase goods using future appropriations in return for the potential of reduced costs, Congress
has taken steps to exercise additional oversight of these programs.109
DOD also proposed to use what it refers to as Large Lot Procurement (LLP) for the new MYP
contracts, except for Naval Strike Missiles. DOD described the approach as an innovation in
MYP contracting in which multiple MYPs that cover concurrent or overlapping time frames.
Large Lot Procurement is intended to take advantage of the use of common components in
multiple missiles to increase economies of scale in the production of those components, thus
realizing additional savings. Large Lot Procurement is intended to use such savings to purchase
additional missiles while staying within estimated total procurement costs.
The FY2023 NDAA (P.L. 117-263) authorized MYP contracts for a number of programs,
including the aforementioned precision-guided munitions, in response to Russia’s renewed and
expanded invasion of Ukraine.110 The explanatory statement accompanying the legislation stated
that the provision of MYP authority for certain munitions is essential to “increase and expand
defense industrial capacity.”111 Some observers have said such authorities may also help to
stabilize funding for the procurement of certain types of long-range precision-guided munitions
105 Ibid., Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/MYP_Exhibits/JASSM_AIR_FORCE_MYP
_1.pdf.
106 Ibid., Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) Navy, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/MYP_Exhibits/LRASM_NAVY_MYP_14.pdf; and Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) Air Force, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/MYP_Exhibits/LRASM_AIR_FORCE_MY
P_1.pdf.
107 Ibid., Standard Missile [6], at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/MYP_Exhibits/SM6_NAVY_MYP_1-4.pdf.
108 Congress has authorized MYP contracts since the 1980s for a limited number of programs, including ships and
submarines, satellites, wheeled and tracked vehicles, helicopters, aircraft, and missiles. For more background and
analysis, see CRS Report R41909, Multiyear Procurement (MYP) and Block Buy Contracting in Defense Acquisition:
Background and Issues for Congress, by Ronald O'Rourke. See, in particular, Appendix B for a list of approved MYP
programs since FY1990.
109 For example, any MYP contract exceeding $500 million must be “specifically authorized by law in an Act other
than an appropriations Act” and “specifically provided in an appropriations Act.” See 10 U.S.C. §3501 clauses (l)(3)
and (i)(1), respectively.
110 James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (P.L. 117-263, Div. A, Title XII,
§1244(c)). Another provision of the FY2023 NDAA (P.L. 117-263, Div. A, Title I, §125) and a provision in the
Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328, Div. C, Title VIII, §8010) authorized multi-year
procurement for up to 15 Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.
111 Explanatory statement to P.L. 117-263, as published in Part 2 of the House section of the Congressional Record,
December 7, 2021, p. H9491.
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needed to counter China in various operational scenarios, such as anti-ship and area-effects
weapons.112 For proposed MYP contracts that were authorized in the FY2023 NDAA, an issue for
Congress for FY2024, and particularly for the appropriations committees, is whether to provide
the additional approval in an appropriations act, such as the Department of Defense
Appropriations Act, 2024.
In debating whether to approve proposed MYP contracts, Congress may consider:
•
•
•
•
DOD’s estimates of the savings that would result from using MYP;
The degree to which MYP contracts would act as an incentive for munitions
makers to invest in the expansion of their production facilities;
Other potential options (such as direct appropriations) for expanding their
production facilities; and
The reduction in executive branch and congressional flexibility for making
changes to procurement programs in response to changing strategic or budgetary
circumstances that would result from using MYP contracts.
Nuclear Modernization Programs
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $37.7 billion for certain programs to upgrade (or modernize)
the U.S. nuclear triad for long-range weapon delivery.113 Such programs include the LGM-35A
Sentinel program (formerly known as the Ground-based Strategic Deterrent) to replace LGM30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the Columbia-class ballistic
missile submarine (SSBN) program to replace the Ohio-class SSBNs, and the B-21 Raider stealth
bomber to replace B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers (see Table 6). Such programs also include
the Long-Range Stand-Off nuclear cruise missile to replace the AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise
Missile used on strategic bombers and for the D5 program to extend the life of the Trident II
submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Table 6. Funding for Selected Nuclear Modernization Programs,
FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority and quantities)
Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted
#
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
LGM-35A Sentinel
intercontinental
ballistic missile
(IF11681)
$3.62
-
$4.28
-
$0.66
18.3%
Columbia-Class
Ballistic Missile
Submarine (R41129)
$6.27
-
$6.21
1
-$0.07
-1.1%
Trident D5 missile
modifications
$1.72
-
$1.93
-
$0.21
12.5%
112 Stacie Pettyjohn and Hannah Dennis, Precision and Posture: Defense Spending Trends and the FY23 Budget
Request, Center for a New American Security, November 17, 2022, at
https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/precision-and-posture-defense-spending-tre.
113 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Budget Briefing, United
States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 7.
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Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted
#
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
B-21 stealth bomber
(R44463, IF12357)
$4.80
-
$5.32
-
$0.52
10.7%
Long-Range Stand-Off
cruise missile (IF10519,
IF12357)
$0.98
-
$0.98
-
<$-0.01
-0.3%
Source: DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Program
Acquisition Cost by Weapon System, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March
2023, pp. xv-xvi.
Notes: Amounts include RDT&E and Procurement funding. The “#” symbol indicates quantities. Dollars
rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to nearest tenth.
Missile Defense Programs and MYP Authority
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $14.8 billion for missile defense systems—$2.5 billion more
(20%) than the FY2023 enacted level.114 Such systems include long-range interceptors designed
to protect U.S. territory against ICBMs and shorter-range Terminal High Altitude Area Defense
(THAAD) and Aegis systems designed to protect U.S. forces and allies abroad against shorterrange missiles (see Table 7).115
Table 7. Funding for Selected Missile Defense Systems, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority and quantities)
Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted #
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
Ground-Based
Midcourse and
Improved Homeland
Defense/Next
Generation
Interceptors (IF10541)
$2.62
-
$3.08
-
$0.46
17.5%
Terminal High Altitude
Area Defense Ballistic
Missile Defense
(IF10541)
$0.51
18
$0.48
11
$0.02
-4.0%
Sea-Based Aegis
Ballistic Missile Defense
System and
Interceptors (RL33745)
$1.92
77
$1.72
48
$-0.20
-10.4%
PATRIOT Advanced
Capability (IF10541)
$0.79
-
$1.21
-
$0.42
53.4%
PAC-3 Missile Segment
Enhancement (IF10541)
$1.04
252
$1.21
230
$0.18
16.9%
114 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Program Acquisition Cost
by Weapon System, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. viii.
115 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Budget Briefing, United
States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 7.
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Source: DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Program
Acquisition Cost by Weapon System, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March
2023, pp. xv-xvi.
Notes: Amounts include RDT&E and Procurement funding. The “#” symbol indicates quantities. Dollars
rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to nearest tenth.
MYP Authority for Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile Segment
Enhancement (MSE)
The FY2024 DOD budget requested authority for using MYP contracts scheduled to begin in
FY2024 to buy at least 693 of an upgraded surface-to-air missile known as the Patriot Advanced
Capability (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE). The contract would apply over a
three-year period through FY2026, with an option for additional quantities.116 The PAC-3 MSE,
which is designed to counter short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and remotely piloted
aircraft, incorporates into the PAC-3 interceptor a higher performance solid rocket motor, more
responsive control surfaces, upgraded guidance software, and other improvements.117
Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $48.1 billion for shipbuilding and maritime programs—$7.3
billion more (2%) than the FY2023 enacted level.118 Such systems include submarines, including
Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) that perform a variety of peacetime and
wartime missions, and Columbia-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) that
perform the mission of strategic nuclear deterrence; surface ships, including Ford-class nuclearpowered aircraft carriers (CVNs), Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (DDGs) that generally operate
in higher-threat areas, and Constellation-class frigates (FFG-62) that generally operate in lowerthreat areas; and support ships, including John Lewis-class oilers (TAO) that transfer fuel to
surface ships at sea, and submarine tenders that supply subs (see Table 8).
Table 8. Funding for Selected Shipbuilding Programs, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority and quantities)
Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted #
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
Ford-Class Aircraft
Carrier (RS20643)
$3.73
-
$2.70
-
-$1.03
-27.6%
Virginia-Class
Submarine (RL32418)
$7.26
2
$10.85
2
$3.58
49.4%
Arleigh Burke-Class
Destroyer (RL32109)
$8.22
3
$4.85
2
-$3.37
-41.0%
Constellation-Class
Frigate (R44972)
$1.24
1
$2.25
2
$1.01
80.9%
116 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Materials -
FY2024, Procurement Munitions Multi-Year Program (MYP) Exhibits, PATRIOT Advanced Capability (PAC-3)
Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), March 2023, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/MYP_Exhibits/PAC3_MSE_ARMY_MYP_1-4.pdf.
117 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Program Acquisition Cost
by Weapon System, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. 4-6.
118 Ibid., p. x.
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Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted #
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
San Antonio-Class
Landing Platform Dock
Ship (R43543)
$1.94
1
$0.00
-
-$1.94
-100.0%
American-Class
Amphibious Assault
Ship (R43543)
$1.43
1
$1.87
-
$0.45
31.3%
John Lewis-Class Fleet
Replenishment Oiler
(R43546)
$0.96
1
$0.97
1
$0.01
1.0%
Spearhead Class
Expeditionary Fast
Transport (RL32665)
$0.65
2
$0.00
-
-$0.65
-100.0%
Unmanned Surface
Vessels (USV)
(R45757)
$0.31
-
$0.24
-
-$0.07
-23.3%
Submarine Tender
Replacement
(RL32665)
$0.02
-
$1.74
1
$1.73
11,150.3%
Source: DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Program
Acquisition Cost by Weapon System, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March
2023, pp. xv-xvi.
Notes: Amounts include RDT&E and Procurement funding. Funding for the Columbia-class ballistic missile
submarine is listed in Table 6. Dollars rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to nearest tenth.
Aircraft and Related Systems
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $61.1 billion for aircraft and related systems—$4.6 billion
more (8%) than the FY2023 enacted level.119 Such aircraft include the F-35, F-15EX, and F/A18E/F fighter aircraft, KC-46 refueling tanker, and C-130 cargo aircraft; and such rotorcraft as the
AH-64 attack helicopter, UH-60 utility helicopter; and the CH-53K cargo helicopter (see Table
9). The F-35 is DOD’s largest acquisition program; the department requested $13.6 billion to
acquire a total of 83 in FY2024, including 48 F-35As for the Air Force and a total of 35 F-35Bs
and F-35Cs for the Navy and Marine Corps. This category also includes funding for remotely
piloted aircraft, reconnaissance platforms, and other aviation-related systems and support
equipment.
Table 9. Funding for Selected Aircraft and Rotorcraft, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority and quantities)
Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted #
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
F-35 fighter aircraft
(RL30563, IF12357)
$11.94
77
$13.59
83
$1.65
13.9%
KC-46 refueling tanker
(RL34398)
$2.64
15
$3.01
15
$0.37
14.1%
119 Ibid., p. v.
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Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted #
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
F/A-18E/F fighter
aircraft (IF10546)
$2.10
8
$1.83
-
-$0.26
-12.6%
AH-64E attack
helicopter (IF10546)
$0.80
33
$0.95
43
$0.15
18.4%
UH-60M/V utility
helicopter (IF10546)
$1.17
63
$0.92
50
-$0.25
-21.8%
C-130J cargo aircraft
(IF10546)
$2.93
21
$0.82
2
-$2.10
-71.9%
CH-53K cargo
helicopter (Marine
Corps)
$2.48
12
$2.42
15
-$0.06
-2.4%
F-15EX fighter aircraft
(IF11521)
$3.39
24
$3.38
24
-$0.01
-0.3%
Source: DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Program
Acquisition Cost by Weapon System, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March
2023, pp. xv-xvi.
Notes: Amounts include RDT&E and Procurement funding. The “#” symbol indicates quantities. Funding for the
B-21 stealth bomber is listed in Table 6. Dollars rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to
nearest tenth.
Space Systems
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $26.1 billion for space-based systems—$4.4 billion more
(20%) than the FY2023 enacted level.120 Such systems include Overhead Persistent Infrared
(OPIR) satellites to provide missile warning, tracking, and defense in the space domain; Global
Positioning System (GPS) satellites that provide positioning, navigation, and timing information
to military and civilian users; launch services as part of the National Security Space Launch
program and Rocket System Launch Program (see Table 10), as well as command and control
systems, and terrestrial satellite terminals and equipment.
Table 10. Funding for Selected Space Systems, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority and quantities)
Name (Relevant CRS
Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted #
FY2024
Request $
FY2024
Request #
Change
$
Change
%
National Security Space
Launch and Rocket System
Launch Program (IF11531)
$2.21
10
$3.00
15
$0.79
36.4%
Global Positioning System
Enterprise
$1.71
2
$1.26
-
-$0.45
-23.5%
Space Based Overhead
Persistent Infrared Systems
$4.70
-
$4.97
-
$0.27
6.4%
Source: DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Budget Briefing,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, pp. 25-27.
120 Ibid., p. xi.
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Notes: Amounts include RDT&E and Procurement funding. The “#” symbol indicates quantities. Dollars
rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to nearest tenth.
Ground Systems
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $13.9 billion for ground systems—$1.3 billion more (10%)
than the FY2023 enacted level.121 Such systems include the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle to replace
a portion of the armed services’ fleets of High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle
(HMMWV, known as “Humvee”); modifications and upgrades to the Army’s M-1 Abrams tank;
the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle to replace the Assault Amphibious Vehicle; and
the Army’s Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle to replace the M-113 armored personnel carrier (see
Table 11).
Table 11. Funding for Selected Ground Systems, FY2023-FY2024 (Requested)
(in billions of dollars of discretionary budget authority and quantities)
Name
(Relevant
CRS Product)
FY2023
Enacted $
FY2023
Enacted #
FY2024
Request $
Joint Light
Tactical
Vehicle
(IF11729)
$1.01
3,311
$1.18
M-1 Abrams
Tank
Modifications/
Upgrades
$1.31
90
Amphibious
Combat
Vehicle
(IF11755)
$0.62
Armored
Multi-Purpose
Vehicle
(IF11741)
$0.38
FY2024
Request #
Change $
Change %
3,108
$0.18
17.8%
$0.90
34
-$0.41
-31.5%
74
$0.66
80
$0.04
6.8%
43
$0.55
91
$0.17
45.7%
Source: DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Budget Briefing,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, pp. 25-27.
Notes: Amounts include RDT&E and Procurement funding. The “#” symbol indicates quantities. Dollars
rounded to nearest hundredth; percentages rounded to nearest tenth.
Divestments
DOD’s FY2024 budget request contained plans to retire or decommission (i.e., divest) a number
of certain types of aircraft, ships, ground vehicles, and other systems, in part to procure (i.e.,
invest in) emerging defense technologies.122 The department asserted that adapting to a changing
strategic environment requires divesting from systems that are vulnerable in certain conflict
scenarios while developing or modernizing other systems to fill capability gaps in such
121 Ibid., p. vii.
122 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, pp. 4-1, 4-28 to 4-31.
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scenarios.123 Of various initiatives estimated to yield a total of $4.6 billion in operating cost
savings, DOD identified $3.8 billion as part of an initiative called Enabling Future Capabilities
Transition (EFCT). The aim of EFCT is to divest “equipment, partial or entire weapon systems or
discontinuing legacy acquisition programs and systems, in order to modernize and/or to fund
purchases in support of the Department’s higher priorities.”124
Under EFCT, in FY2024 the Army would divest the Airborne Reconnaissance Low Enhanced
(ARL-E) and Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS)
missile detection systems to support a follow-on platform known as the High-Accuracy Detection
and Exploitation System (HADES).125 Under EFCT, the Navy in FY2024 would divest two
Littoral Combat Ships; three Dock-Landing Ships; three Guided-Missile Cruisers; and several
non-ship systems (e.g., minesweeping capabilities of the MH-53E helicopter, scheduled to cease
operations in FY2027).126 Under EFCT, the Air Force in FY2024 would retire 42 A-10 groundattack aircraft; 32 F-22 fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft; 57 F-15C/D fourth-generation
fighter aircraft; 48 MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft; and certain other systems.127
Congress may evaluate DOD’s divestment strategies in the context of cost, industrial base
strategy, and near-, mid-, and long-term military readiness. Divestment decisions can affect how
DOD organizes military forces, training requirements, logistics, as well as RDT&E and
procurement strategies.
Military Construction (MILCON)-Related Matters128
The FY2024 DOD budget requested a total of $16.7 billion in funding for Military Construction
(MILCON) projects and related activities—$2.3 billion (12%) less than the FY2023 enacted
level, excluding supplemental funding.129 DOD requested $14.7 billion in MILCON accounts and
$1.9 billion in Family Housing accounts.130 By location, DOD requested $8.8 billion for use
inside the United States (37 of 50 states), $3.3 billion for use outside the United States, and $4.5
billion for unspecified worldwide locations.131
123 Ibid., p. 4-1.
124 Ibid., p. 4-28.
125 Ibid. p. 4-30.
126 Ibid.
127 Ibid., pp. 4-30 to 4-31.
128 This section was coordinated with Andrew Tilghman, Analyst in U.S. Defense Infrastructure Policy. For more
background and analysis on the military construction process, see CRS Report R44710, Military Construction:
Authorities and Processes, by Andrew Tilghman.
129 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, p. A-5.
130 Ibid.
131 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Construction Programs (C1) Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024, March 2023, p. 56, at
https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/FY2024_c1.pdf.
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Climate-Related Activities
The FY2024 DOD budget requested $5.1 billion to mitigate climate-related risk by funding
multiple activities to enhance operational capability, mission resilience, and readiness.132 This
request included $3.7 billion for Installation Resilience and Adaptation to improve the ability of
132 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Defense Budget Overview,
United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March 2023, pp. 4-31 to 4-32.
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military installations to adapt to disruptions to public infrastructure; $0.1 billion for Operational
Energy improvements to improve energy efficiency of existing operational platforms, in part to
reduce the energy supply needs of deployed forces; $1.3 billion for Research, Development, Test
and Evaluation (e.g., hybrid military vehicles and energy storage technology); and $54.6 million
for Contingency Preparedness to incorporate climate risks into war games, exercises, and other
planning tools.133 DOD released a 49-page budget document describing these efforts in more
detail, including delineating the funding by military component, line of effort, appropriation
category, and budgetary line item.134
Author Information
Cameron M. Keys
Analyst in Defense Logistics and Resource
Management Policy
Brendan W. McGarry
Specialist in U.S. Defense Budget
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
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under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
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133 Ibid.
134 DOD, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, Enhancing Combat
Capability-Mitigating Climate Risk, United States Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request, March
2023, at https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2024/PB_FY2024_ECCMitigating_Combat_Capability.pdf.
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