Publication

Prevailing wisdom on defense spending in the past decade asserts that despite the large amount spent, the US did not modernize its weapons systems. In reality, the military services did take advantage of increased procurement funding to modernize their forces, although not always as expected. This paper analyzes procurement funding of the last decade and demonstrates that though each of the services has followed a different approach in allocating these funds, they share a similar result: the services capitalized on funding to modernize their forces, especially the major weapons programs that constitute the heart of the services’ capabilities.