News

Recap Today’s Vehicles, Invest in S&T: U.S. Think Tank

March 6, 2012 Defense News

Given the future operating environment and reduced defense spending, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps would be better off investing in science and technology research rather than launching new vehicle development programs, according to a new think tank report.

CSBA: Army Should ‘Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without’

March 6, 2012 Inside Defense

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments today released a report on the future challenges in military vehicle modernization, recommending that the Army and Marine Corps find ways to make do amid an environment of fiscal austerity.

Smart Weapons Spread Undercuts Need For Army Combat Vehicle

March 6, 2012 AOL Defense

Since 9/11, the U.S. military has invested massively in protecting its troops, buying add-on armor kits for everything from the humble Humvee to the massive M1 tank. Now the spread of smart weapons to Third World forces, both rogue states and guerrillas, may up the threat faster than we can counter, warns a new report from thinktank analyst and frequent Pentagon advisor Andrew Krepinevich. "The experience in Afghanistan and Iraq suggests that anti-armor weapons will be cheaper and faster to field [than upgraded armor protection]," Krepinevich told reporters gathered at the thinktank he heads, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "That's not a game you want to be in if you're in an age of austerity, so that creates a real problem for the Army and Marine Corps" – particularly, he said, for programs like the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle.

Don’t Rush to Buy New Vehicles, Army and Marine Corps Are Warned

March 6, 2012 National Defense Magazine

The traditional approach to updating U.S. military hardware — spending years and billions of dollars on next-generation designs — is no longer working for the Army and the Marine Corps as they seek replacements for their combat vehicles.

Could Once-Promising ‘Structural Blast Chimney’ Be Resurrected For JLTV?

March 5, 2012 Inside the Army

While the shadow of uncertainty has been cast on a promising vehicle survivability technology known as the "structural blast chimney" due to the cancellation of the Army's competitive humvee recapitalization program, it may be revived for the upcoming Joint Light Tactical Vehicle competition, Inside the Army has learned from sources and officials.

Studies

Focused Force: China’s Military Challenge and Australia’s Response

January 13, 2025 Toshi Yoshihara, Jack Bianchi, Casey Nicastro

China’s ambitions, assertiveness, and massive military expansion have stimulated a major shift in Australia’s defense policy. From the AUKUS partnership to new allied posture arrangements to the acquisition of long-range strike capabilities, Australia is carrying out a series of ambitious initiatives to strengthen deterrence. Canberra has further called on the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to become a “focused force” designed to deal with the highest-order dangers. As Australia undergoes this strategic reorientation, it confronts weighty investment and divestment decisions that could have lasting consequences for force structure and posture.

Studies

Putting It All Together: The 2025 Defense Budget Request, Alternative Budget Proposals, and NATO Spending

December 9, 2024 Travis Sharp

With a new administration and new Congress entering office, experts from across the political spectrum have introduced competing proposals for future U.S. defense budgets. The most noteworthy aspect of these proposals is the extraordinary degree to which they differ. One issue driving the differences is NATO military spending. Much attention has centered on NATO members devoting at least 2 percent of their GDP to defense. Despite this attention, research has rarely projected the additional funding and forces that could be generated if all NATO countries met the 2 percent of GDP benchmark—or a higher target.

Briefs

Understanding NATO’s Concept for Deterrence and Defense of the Euro-Atlantic Area

May 20, 2024 Katherine E. Dahlstrand, Sean Monaghan, Sara Bjerg Moller

NATO, the largest and most powerful military alliance in history, turned seventy-five in April. In July, the leaders of NATO will return to the city where its founding document, the Washington Treaty, was signed in 1949. Most people have heard of NATO. Fewer know its most important document is the Strategic Concept, which is updated every decade or so, and sets the Alliance’s strategy. An even smaller group know about NATO’s “Concept for Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area.”

Studies

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

March 18, 2024 Katherine E. Dahlstrand

Assessing the type of threat that Russia is likely to pose in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine is a critical challenge for the United States and its allies. What will the Russian military look like in the future? Some argue that the Russian military will remain a significant threat – and perhaps become a very different and even more serious one. This argument holds that the Russian military will reconstitute in a relatively short time frame and may reform according to lessons learned during the war in Ukraine. Others argue that the Russian military will pose a far less formidable conventional threat going forward. Not only has the war against Ukraine exposed fundamental weaknesses in the Russian military, the argument goes, but Moscow’s ability to address those weaknesses will be limited by available manpower, sanctions, and export controls.

Briefs

2023 Annual Report

January 30, 2024

For nearly three decades, CSBA has provided consistent, high-quality, and innovative research on defense strategy, budgets, and the security environment.

Briefs

An Ongoing and Necessary Renaissance: NATO’s Nuclear Posture

January 25, 2024 Eric Edelman, Franklin C. Miller

President Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling while the war in Ukraine has raged, along with lurid nuclear threats by Russian officials and propagandists, have once again focused attention on NATO’s nuclear mission. As the alliance approaches a summit in Washington later this summer, it is an appropriate time to review its nuclear posture.

Focused Force: China’s Military Challenge and Australia’s Response

Putting It All Together: The 2025 Defense Budget Request, Alternative Budget Proposals, and NATO Spending

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

Inconsistent Congress: Analysis of the 2024 Defense Budget Request

Evaluate Like We Operate: Why DOD Should Evaluate Weapons Systems as Networked Force Packages, Not Individual Platforms

Extending Deterrence by Detection: The Case for Integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems Into the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness

Beyond Precision: Maintaining America’s Strike Advantage in Great Power Conflict

The Decisive Decade: United States–China Competition in Defense Innovation and Defense Industrial Policy in and Beyond the 2020s

Speeding Toward Instability? Hypersonic Weapons and the Risks of Nuclear Use

Featured Event

Report Release Webinar: Strengthening the Phalanx: Layered, Comprehensive, and Distributed Air and Missile Defense in the Indo-Pacific

Recap Today’s Vehicles, Invest in S&T: U.S. Think Tank

CSBA: Army Should ‘Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without’

Smart Weapons Spread Undercuts Need For Army Combat Vehicle

Don’t Rush to Buy New Vehicles, Army and Marine Corps Are Warned

Could Once-Promising ‘Structural Blast Chimney’ Be Resurrected For JLTV?

Why Major Acquisition Programs Fail

Latest Publications

Focused Force: China’s Military Challenge and Australia’s Response

Putting It All Together: The 2025 Defense Budget Request, Alternative Budget Proposals, and NATO Spending

Understanding NATO’s Concept for Deterrence and Defense of the Euro-Atlantic Area

More of the Same? The Future of the Russian Military And Its Ability to Change

2023 Annual Report

An Ongoing and Necessary Renaissance: NATO’s Nuclear Posture