From 1980 to the present, funding for RDT& E has grown consistently-if not smoothly-as a percentage of DOD's total budget: The RDT& E component rose from 10 percent of total in 1980 ($13 billion of the $132 billion DOD military outlay) to an estimated 14 percent in 1994 ($38 billion of the $269 billion total). In 1990, RDTE accounted for 13 percent ($37 billion of the $291 billion) of DOD's military outlays. This growth demonstrates that R& D funding has been a critical component of the defense strategy throughout the period. (See appendix table 4-18.) In contrast to this positive funding trend, growth in other DOD functions has not been so stable. For example, funding for procurement of weapons systems rose considerably in the early eighties, from 22 percent of total in 1980 to 30 percent in 1987. Since then, procurements-out of which R& D in addition to the RDT& E budget is funded (see "Independent Research and Development") have fallen both as a percentage of total (estimated at 23 percent of 1994 funds) and in absolute levels. (See appendix table 4-18.)

Within the RDT& E budget, funding for specific mission categories also has received shifting preferential treatment during the past 15 years. (Click here for footnote 43.) Percentage share funding for DOD's strategic and tactical programs are almost a mirror image of one another. (See figure 4-18.) These trends reflect, initially, growth in the Air Force's major strategic missile systems such as M-X and Trident II, and--subsequently--a shift in support toward tactical weapons theatre warfare servicing each of the three military branches. Funding for DOD's technology base fell considerably as a share of total--from 17 percent in 1980 to 9 percent in 1990--even though the actual dollars spent for this research category inched up each year. Substantial growth in the advanced technology development component during the mid-eighties primarily reflects the funding fortunes of Star Wars, the Strategic Defense Initiative's crash program for deployment of space-based weapons. (Click here for footnote 44.)

More recently, development funding for advanced technologies and funding for the technology base have been formally incorporated into the strategic plan underlying DOD's Science and Technology Program. (Click here for footnote 45.) The guiding principle around which the program is organized is that technological superiority is a key element of deterrence in peacetime and provides a wide spectrum of military options in times of crises. The new S& T program, thus heavily emphasizes government-supported R& D in order to maintain the Nation's defense technology base. The military departments and defense agencies will invest almost $8 billion in fiscal year 1994 to support the Science and Technology Program, as follows:

• $1.3 billion in basic research support for 12 science and engineering disciplines DOD believes are not addressed adequately elsewhere-these are, in order of importance as indicated from estimated 1993 funding levels, electronics, ocean sciences, materials, physics, chemistry, computer sciences, mathematics, biology and medicene, cognitive and neural sciences, atmosphere and space sciences, and terrestrial sciences;

• $3.1 billion in exploratory development (applied research) support for 11 key ( Click here for footnote 46.)technology areas deemed critical to future military needs-computers, software, sensors, communication networking, electronic devices, environmental effects, materials and processes, energy storage, propulsion and energy conversion, design automation, and human-system interfaces; and

• $3.6 billion in advanced technology development support for demonstration programs (Click here for footnote 47.) in each of seven "S& T thrusts"--global surveillance and communication, precision strike, air superiority and defense, sea control and undersea superiority, advanced land combat, synthetic environments, and technology for affordability.

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