Heritage Foundation Releases 2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength, Gives U.S. Military First-Ever ‘Weak’ Overall Rating

For the first time, The Heritage Foundation’s Index of U.S. Military Strength finds that as currently postured, the U.S. military is rated “weak” and at significant risk of not being able to meet the demands of a single major regional conflict while attending to various presence and engagement activities.

Heritage released the 2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength on Tuesday. The release comes as the military faces a full-blown recruitment crisis and two successive years where the Biden administration submitted defense budget requests below the rate of inflation.  

The military has seen a general erosion of capacity, capability, and readiness, but readiness and capacity issues across the force, particularly in the Air Force and Navy, have become so significant that the military’s ability to fulfill its primary mission is in jeopardy. Worsening the challenges for the force further are inflation and budget cuts, which account for a total loss of $59 billion in funding between 2018 and 2023 and are compounded by the limited assistance American allies can contribute to our shared security interests.