The Congressional Budget Office has launched an improved version of an interactive tool designed to help users analyze the U.S. military’s force structure and its impact on defense spending.
budgeting work can use the enhanced tool to consider alternative policy choices and come up with results that include 10-year costs, CBO Director Phillip Swagel wrote in a blog post published Tuesday.
Individuals doing force structure analysis can also use the platform to examine the effects of proposed changes to armed forces.
“The tool also provides information about the major combat units that currently make up the U.S. military, including their number, size, functions, and average costs,” Swagel noted.
Instructors at war colleges and military academies can perform “what if” analysis of potential changes to military forces using the tool.
Users seeking to perform more in-depth analysis can use the tool to export detailed data files, including the military’s projected costs over the next 10 years, phase-in rates and other technical factors and documentation of all default settings and cost factors of the agency’s cost model.
Swagel said CBO will continue to upgrade the quantities and cost factors in the tool as the Department of Defense issues new budget plans.
