Eight decades of defense spending, in today's dollars.
The Department of War's total obligation authority, FY1948– FY2029, from the Comptroller's Green Book. War and supplemental funding included. Shown in constant FY2025 dollars so the eras compare — Korea, Vietnam, the Reagan buildup, the post-9/11 surge, sequestration, and the current increase, on one axis.
FY2025 request (constant FY25)
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All-time real peak
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FY2025 vs. real peak
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even now, below the FY2008 real high
Years validated
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self-validated
DoW total obligation authority — the long arc
Reading the arc
In nominal dollars defense spending only ever climbs. In constant dollars the real story shows: the Korean and Vietnam wars as sharp spikes, the long post-Vietnam decline, the Reagan buildup of the 1980s, the post–Cold War “peace dividend” trough of the 1990s, the post-9/11 surge that peaked in FY2008, the Budget Control Act drawdown, and the current increase — which in real terms is approaching, but has not yet passed, the FY2008 high. The dashed line carries the other basis so the gap between the two — pure inflation — is always in view.