The U.S. risks losing control of the battlefield if it doesn't control the electromagnetic spectrum, according to the Defense Department. This range of frequencies is critical for communications, navigation, weapons, and more. Russian electromagnetic warfare forces, described by the Defense Intelligence Agency as "world class," have demonstrated effectiveness in real-world applications against U.S...

The 2018 National Defense Strategy called for improving the readiness and lethality of U.S. military forces. Readiness challenges—for example, maintenance delays that keep ships in dry docks or planes on the ground—have reduced the availability of these forces for training and operations. This statement for the congressional record summarizes our 2016-2020 work on Navy and Marine Corps readine...

One measure of the health and readiness of a military aircraft fleet is the mission capable rate—the percentage of total time aircraft can fly and perform at least one mission. We examined whether 46 types of aircraft met their annual mission capable goals for FYs 2011-2019. We found: 3 met their goals in a majority of the years 24 did not meet their goals in any year We also reviewed annual o...

Substantial maintenance delays persist at the Navy's shipyards. 75% of planned maintenance periods were completed late for aircraft carriers and submarines in FY 2015-2019, with an average delay of 113 days for carriers and 225 days for submarines. We identified 2 main causes for the delays: Unplanned work, identified after maintenance planning is finishedShipyard workforce performance and capacit...

Since 9/11, demand has grown dramatically for the Air Force’s remotely piloted aircraft (“drones”), and their pilots and sensor operators. The intensity of operations, shift work, and other factors take a toll on these personnel. The Air Force is trying to reduce burnout and improve retention. A goal of the Air Force is to have enough pilots and sensor operators by 2024 to allow breaks from...

The Navy’s public shipyards are critical to maintaining its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as supporting its operations around the world. In 2017, we found the shipyards were in poor condition and not meeting the Navy’s needs. In response, the Navy developed a 20-year, $21 billion plan to fix them. However, we found the preliminary plan’s cost estimate is likely u...

NAVY READINESS: Actions Needed to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Changes to Surface Warfare Officer Training Following ship collisions in 2017 that resulted in the loss of 17 sailors’ lives and significant damage to Navy ships, the Navy has added classroom and simulator training for the Surface Warfare Officers who drive these ships. The Navy plans to triple ship-driving training hours by 2021. ...

The F-35 fighter plays a key role in U.S. defense strategy. As of October, the United States and international partners had fielded more than 435 of an expected 3,300 aircraft. We testified that DOD faces challenges keeping the growing fleet ready to perform its mission, largely due to insufficient planning. Challenges include Spare parts shortages: F-35s were unable to fly about 30% of the time...

Great powers—particularly China and Russia—and other adversaries pose current and future threats to the nation. The Defense Department is preparing to meet those threats where they arise, including the cyber domain. The Army’s preparations include new cyber and electronic warfare units. Some of these units are being created on an accelerated schedule, and in some cases, activated before cyb...

To adapt to growing threats, the Department of Defense says it must urgently change. We looked at DOD's process for providing senior leaders with the information they need to adjust the size and capabilities of the U.S. military to meet top defense priorities. Senior leaders are not getting the information they need to make these important decisions. Our recommendations address the following cha...

The Army is working toward rebuilding its current forces and modernizing to meet future threats. We testified on the Army's progress and challenges. For example, the Army has planned to expand its forces—e.g., by creating cyber and electronic warfare units—to prepare for threats from strong adversaries. The Army has also had trouble hiring and retaining critical personnel for its maintenance...

To be ready to carry out its operations, the Air Force needs to have well-maintained equipment and trained personnel. However, Air Force readiness has declined steadily since the 1990s. Today, the Air Force is working to rebuild readiness and modernize its fleet to meet future threats. This testimony discusses challenges in these 4 areas: Addressing shortfalls of skilled pilots and maintenance p...

The Department of Defense has provided U.S. Customs and Border Protection with personnel and other support for at least 2 decades. DOD evaluates requests for assistance against 6 criteria, including cost and how providing support would affect military readiness. We looked at 4 such requests for assistance that DOD approved. We found that DOD used unreliable cost estimates and didn't fully evaluate...

Since 1995, the Department of Defense's financial management has been on our High Risk List. Thousands of audit findings from DOD's department-wide financial statement audits in 2018 show the extent of improvements needed. Our 2017 recommendation prompted DOD to develop a centralized database that uses real-time data to track audit findings and its progress in addressing them. However, some of the...

The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration is in the middle of a long-term effort to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. DOE's 2021 budget estimate for nuclear modernization activities for FYs 2021-2025 is $81 billion—$15 billion more than its 2020 budget estimate for the same period. Such an increase may require cuts in other national defense programs to keep...

Three Air Force and three Navy aviation depots maintain critical aircraft such as the KC-135 tanker and F/A-18 fighter. Delays at depots can reduce aircraft availability for operations and training. We reviewed depot performance for selected aircraft over 6 years. Air Force depots completed maintenance on-time or early in 5 of 6 years (with aircraft in maintenance 22,572 fewer days than expected...

About 9.6 million beneficiaries are eligible for Defense Department health care from Medical Treatment Facilities and TRICARE civilian providers. DOD issued a plan in February for a required restructure of Medical Treatment Facilities, which called for decreasing capability at 43 of them and closing five. DOD’s restructuring review included required elements, such as assessing the adequacy of n...

Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help improve the federal government. We alert department heads to the recommendations that would help them save the most money, address issues on our High Risk List, or significantly improve government operations. This report outlines our 81 priority open recommendations for the Department of Defense (DOD), as of May 2020. For example, these...

DOD operates depots nationwide to overhaul, upgrade, and rebuild complex weapons and equipment. These depots are crucial to keeping the military ready to conduct operations and training. While depots have sometimes struggled to meet repair needs in recent years, they reported benefits from sharing best practices and lessons learned with each other. For example, one shared an improvement that redu...

The Department of Defense tries to minimize costs by consolidating some services—such as IT or payroll—used by multiple DOD agencies. The Defense-Wide Working Capital Fund finances 3 agencies within DOD that charge their customers—including the military departments—when providing goods and services. We found the agencies set prices designed to recover their costs and break even. However,...

Army modernization includes updating existing weapons and acquiring new weapons to give the Army an edge over its adversaries. This testimony discusses 3 prior reports assessing the Army's near- and long-term modernization efforts, related budget documents, and acquisition processes for major weapon systems. Those reports had 7 recommendations that may help the Army avoid costly failures, includ...

In 2015, the United States transitioned from a combat mission in Afghanistan to a mission to train and advise Afghan forces. We looked at the United States’s advising efforts and found that they have evolved since 2015. For example: The United States expanded advising to additional regions in Afghanistan U.S. forces began to accompany Afghan forces on certain combat operations To accommodate...