Acquisition Reform Needs Its Own Wargame
The US Navy's FY 2027 budget request includes 785 Tomahawk cruise missiles, a 1,200% increase from the 55 funded in 2025, highlighting the need for acquisition reform to be stress-tested against real-world scenarios. The defense analysis community can contribute to the reform debate by creating a wargaming tool to provide projected battlefield outcomes tied to specific statutory changes.
The US Navy is requesting 785 Tomahawk cruise missiles in its FY 2027 budget, a significant increase from the 55 funded in 2025. This jump highlights the cost of acquisition decisions not stress-tested against real-world scenarios. Acquisition reform proposals often lack projected operational impact, making it difficult for Congress to compare the effectiveness of different proposals. A wargaming tool can provide the necessary data to inform the reform debate. Wargame results have shaped legislation in the past, such as the Taiwan tabletop exercise in April 2023. The defense analysis community can contribute to the reform debate by creating such a tool.
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