Big Bucks on the Potomac

For John, BLUF:  The Defense Budget is shrinking, but is still big.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

From the Blog Site Strategy Page, three days ago, we have a look at the big ticket items in the Defense Budget.  Please note we are talking billions of dollars and trillions of dollars.♠  By way of comparison, the Massachusetts Commonwealth Government (excluding local budgets, less the Cherry Sheets) budget for 2014 (July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014) is $34 billion (actually $33.826B as it sits in the House Ways and Means Committee as of 10 April 2013.  Found here, Executive Summary Tab.

The U.S. Department of Defense has 86 major procurement projects, worth $1.6 trillion if all are completed.  This figure makes some allowance for cost growth, but those allowances, historically, are usually too low.  The $1.6 trillion figure is nine percent less than it was last year and is expected to continue to decline as the defense budget shrinks over the next decade.  That shrinkage will come from some projects being dropped, others reduced, and fewer new ones arriving. The ten costliest projects in the last year (in terms of total project cost as of last year) are:

• F-35 stealth fighter: $336 billion

• DDG 51 Destroyer: $103 billion

• Virginia class Submarine: $84 billion

• F/A-18E/F Fighter: $59 billion

• V-22: Transport $58 billion

• Trident II Ballistic Missile: $54 billion

• KC-46 Tanker $44 billion

• CVN 78 Class carrier: $35 billion

• P-8A Patrol Aircraft: $33 billion

• Littoral Combat Ship: $32 billion

These ten projects represent 62 percent of the remaining cost of all the large procurement projects.  These ten projects have already consumed $805 billion.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money."  Attributed to US Senator Everett Dirksen (1896 - 1969)