A Comparison of Science and Technology Funding for DoD's Space and Nonspace Programs

• Main Authors: Goldberg, Matthew, Rehmus, Paul
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: COMPARISON; CONGRESS; COSTS; DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; Economics and Cost Analysis; MILITARY BUDGETS; SCHEDULING; SPACE MISSIONS; SPACE SYSTEMS

As is the case with many of its other programs, a number of the Department of Defense's (DoD's) unclassified space programs have experienced growth in their costs and delays in their schedules compared with what DoD envisioned when the programs entered the development and demonstration phase of their implementation. Some analysts have suggested that those problems may be caused in part by insufficient funding for science and technology (S&T) activities before the programs began. In this analysis, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) considered whether a difference exists between the handing that the Defense Department provides for unclassified S&T activities that support such space programs and the funding it provides for S&T activities that support other nonspace programs. In its comparisons, all of which involve unclassified activities, CBO found that, relative to the programs' total spending on research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) activities, funding for S&T activities in support of space programs has been significantly less over the 1980-2007 period than S&T handing for programs that do not involve space systems; moreover, Do D's plans for the future maintain that difference. CBO's analysis did not, however, establish a causal link between that lower amount of S&T funding and the cost growth and schedule delays that have occurred in some ongoing space programs. Also, CBO's analysis did not consider the extent to which funding for classified space programs might be supporting unclassified space programs.