Measuring Military Capability--Progress, Problems, and Future Direction

Gao ID: 129224 March 5, 1986

Testimony was given on Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to measure military capability. GAO found that, for the past several years, a variety of DOD activities have continued working on developing reporting systems and/or models which would evaluate the state of military readiness, sustainability, modernization, and force structure. GAO believes that measuring capability in those states is a very complex task due to a number of tangible and intangible variables. While several models which attempt to measure various aspects of war-fighting capability are being developed, the multiplicity of models and approaches suggests that there is no general consensus regarding what constitutes an acceptable measure. The current state of military capability forecasting is such that only inferences can be drawn from the variety of systems and models being used to forecast various aspects of military capability.



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