Editing Robert McNamara (section)

====Cost reductions====
McNamara's staff stressed systems analysis as an aid in decision-making on weapon development and many other budget issues. The secretary believed that the United States could afford any amount needed for national security, but that "this ability does not excuse us from applying strict standards of effectiveness and efficiency to the way we spend our defense dollars.... You have to make a judgment on how much is enough."{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Acting on these principles, McNamara instituted a much-publicized cost reduction program, which, he reported, saved $14 billion in the five-year period beginning in 1961. Although he had to withstand a storm of criticism from senators and representatives from affected congressional districts, he closed many military bases and installations that he judged unnecessary for national security. He was equally determined about other cost-saving measures.<ref name="Historical Office Robert S. McNamara" />

Due to the nuclear arms race, the Vietnam War buildup and other projects, [[total obligational authority|Total Obligational Authority]] (TOA) increased greatly during the McNamara years. Fiscal year TOA increased from $48.4 billion in 1962 (equal to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|48.4|1962|r=0}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}) to $49.5 (${{Inflation|US-GDP|49.5|1965|r=0}}) billion in 1965 (before the major Vietnam increases) to $74.9 (${{Inflation|US-GDP|74.9|1968|r=0}}) billion in 1968, McNamara's last year in office (though he left office in February).{{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}} Not until FY 1984 did DoD's total obligational authority surpass that of FY 1968 in [[constant dollars]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

{{see|Convair B-58 Hustler#Excessive program expenditure}}
McNamara was an early opponent of the [[Convair B-58 Hustler]], the Air Force's first supersonic bomber. It had an operating cost one-third greater than the [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress]], and he did not consider it a viable weapon system due to limited range that was overcome at the cost of additional midair refueling tankers.{{sfn|Miller|1985|p=69}}{{sfn|Sorenson|1995|p=131}} In late 1965, five years after it became operational, McNamara ordered retirement of the B-58 by 1970; the principal reasons given for this directive was the high sustainment cost for the fleet and the planned introduction of the replacement FB-111A.{{sfn|Gunston|Gilchrist|1993|p=179}}

{{see|North American XB-70 Valkyrie#Downsizing, upswing, cancellation}}
After President Kennedy reduced the supersonic [[North American XB-70 Valkyrie]] project to experimental, McNamara fully supported the decision in Congressional hearings, calling the bomber unjustifiable.{{sfn|Pace|1988|p=20-21}}