Congressional Budget Office reports

Availability and Use of Aircraft in the Army
September 5, 2024 CBO Report

In analyzing the availability and use of aircraft by the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2023, CBO found that the number of manned aircraft has decreased and availability has increased. Average flying hours per aircraft have fallen since 2011.

In this report, the Congressional Budget Office analyzes patterns in the availability and use of aircraft by the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2023. CBO looks at availability—a measure of the percentage of time aircraft can be flown for training or missions—and flying hours, both in total and per aircraft.

Here are CBO’s findings about the fleet’s size, availability, and use:
  • Size. As of 2023, the Army had about 3,900 manned aircraft, most of which were helicopters. The service had an additional 700 large unmanned aerial systems (commonly called drones). Since 2000, the number of manned Army aircraft has generally declined.
  • Availability. Unlike the Air Force and the Department of the Navy, the Army experienced an upward trend in the availability of its aircraft from 2000 to 2023. In 2023, the Army’s average availability rate for manned aircraft was 68 percent—that is, those aircraft were in the possession of operational squadrons and capable of being flown for missions for 68 percent of total possible hours. Since 2005, availability of H-60 Black Hawk helicopters (the Army’s largest fleet) has generally been increasing.
  • Use. The Army used its helicopters more during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan than at other times over the 2000–2023 period. Total flying hours for manned aircraft peaked in 2008 (at 1.22 million), and average flying hours per aircraft peaked in 2011 (at 302). In 2023, manned aircraft flew for 0.77 million hours, and the average aircraft flew for 198 hours.
  • Recent changes. Aircraft availability rates Army-wide increased during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic, whereas flying hours markedly declined. Both availability and use returned to near-normal levels by early in fiscal year 2021.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60683
 
Availability and Use of Rotary-Wing Aircraft in the Department of Defense
CBO, Nov 18, 2024
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60663

In this report, the Congressional Budget Office analyzes patterns in the availability and use of rotary-wing aircraft by three military departments within the Department of Defense (DoD): the Army, the Department of the Navy (DoN, which includes the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. A fleet’s availability rate is the percentage of aircraft that are possessed by operational squadrons (and not receiving maintenance in a depot) and available to be flown.
  • Fleet Sizes. As of September 2023, DoD had about 5,400 rotary-wing aircraft. The Army had about 3,700; DoN had about 1,400; and the Air Force had about 300. Almost half of those rotary-wing aircraft were versions of H-60 transport helicopters.
  • Availability and Use Among the Services. In recent years, availability rates of the Army’s rotary-wing aircraft have been greater than availability rates of the Air Force’s and DoN’s aircraft. But DoN has flown its rotary-wing aircraft more hours per aircraft than the Air Force or Army has.
  • Age, Availability, and Use of Aircraft. DoN replaced much of its rotary-wing fleet in the first half of the 2010s. The average age of the Army’s rotary-wing aircraft (around 16 years) has remained relatively constant since 2000. The Air Force’s rotary-wing aircraft appear to be older, on average, than those operated by the other services. But that is because when the Air Force rebuilds its helicopters, it does not renumber them like the other services do.
DoN’s H-60s show a marked decline in availability rates in the first five years of operation—more so than the other services’ H-60s. Similarly, although the availability and use of aircraft typically diminish with age, the decrease in availability and use of DoN’s V-22 tiltrotor aircraft is nonetheless noteworthy.
 
An Analysis of the Navy’s 2025 Shipbuilding Plan

The Navy’s shipbuilding plan for fiscal year 2025 described the composition of its fleet over the next 30 years. Under that plan, CBO estimates, the fleet would comprise 390 ships in 2054.
CBO estimates that total shipbuilding costs would average about $40 billion per year (in 2024 dollars) over the next 30 years, which is 17 percent more than the Navy estimates. The Navy’s total budget would increase from $255 billion today to about $340 billion (in 2024 dollars) in 2054.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60732
 
Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2025 to 2034

If carried out, the plans for nuclear forces delineated in the Department of Defense's and the Department of Energy's fiscal year 2025 budget requests, submitted in March 2024, would cost a total of $946 billion over the 2025–2034 period, or an average of about $95 billion a year, CBO estimates. That 10-year total is $190 billion, or 25 percent, larger than CBO's 2023 estimate of $756 billion, which covered the 2023–2032 period.



www.cbo.gov

Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2025 to 2034

CBO estimates that plans for U.S. nuclear forces, as described in the fiscal year 2025 budget and supporting documents, would cost $946 billion over the 2025–2034 period, $190 billion more than CBO's 2023 estimate for the 2023–2032 period.
www.cbo.gov www.cbo.gov
 
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