Military Readiness

Members of Congress have raised concerns about the combat readiness of U.S. military forces because of reductions in force size and the expanding demands of peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance operations. GAO found that, although the details are classified, a high percentage of active duty Army units have the major equipment items they need to do their wartime jobs. Moreover, Army information shows that units are maintaining the bulk of their equipment in a fully mission-capable condition. Despite these positive indications of readiness, current readiness reporting systems are not comprehensive enough to reveal all readiness weaknesses. Two factors suggest that the Army could have difficulty sustaining equipment in the event of two nearly simultaneous wars. First, there is a significant shortage of maintenance personnel with the right skills and tenure. As a result, unit maintenance personnel are working longer and harder to keep equipment in a fully mission-capable condition. Second, Army officials are concerned that shortages of war reserve repair parts could seriously affect the operational availability of many of the Army's primary weapon systems. Army officials said that they have started to fund critical shortages. GAO makes recommendations to improve the reporting of (1) auxiliary equipment shortages in unit status reports and (2) equipment conditions in congressional readiness reports.

GAO noted that: (1) while details are classified, a high percentage of active duty Army units have the major equipment items they need for their wartime mission; (2) moreover, Army information shows that units are maintaining the bulk of their equipment in a fully mission capable condition; (3) despite these positive indications of readiness, readiness reporting systems are not comprehensive enough to reveal all readiness weaknesses; (4) for example, they do not show operational limitations that have been caused by extensive shortages of support equipment essential to effective, sustained use of major equipment items; (5) units could deploy without this equipment and could perform their basic combat missions, but they would be limited in their capability, flexibility, or sustainability; (6) additionally, the Army has stated that its equipment is aging and becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and maintenance managers at units GAO visited said that their mechanics are devoting increasing amounts of time to keep equipment operating; (7) these problems are not reflected in readiness data, which show units are able to keep their equipment serviceable; (8) GAO has reported that serviceability rates do not provide a good assessment of equipment condition because equipment that is old, unreliable, and difficult to maintain may still be reported serviceable; (9) while maintenance problems may exist, the Army does not have data that clearly shows either what its equipment problems are or how units are affected; (10) two factors suggest that the Army could have difficulty sustaining equipment in the event of two nearly simultaneous military operations; (11) there is a significant shortage of maintenance personnel with the right skills and tenure; (12) as a result, unit maintenance personnel are working longer and harder to keep equipment in a fully mission capable condition; (13) Army officials are concerned that shortages of war reserve repair parts could seriously affect the operational availability of many of the Army's primary weapon systems; and (14) Army officials report they have started efforts to fund critical shortages.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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