Pentagon seeks $715B budget with a plan to counter China

The Pentagon has asked for a $715 billion budget saying it is geared to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region by shedding older weapons systems and investing in new technologies.

The Pentagon budget proposal was released on Friday with the US Air Force asking to retire more than 200 aircraft and a plan to fund an operational hypersonic cruise missile for the first time. It requested $200 million for the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile.

The budget plan would also provide $5.1 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, the fund which was created by Congress to counter China with a focus on competition in the Indo-Pacific. It aims to boost US readiness in the region through funding radars, satellites and missile systems.

“The department in this budget takes a clear-eyed approach to Beijing and provides the investments to prioritize China as our pacing challenge,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told reporters on Friday.

“The budget also documents some of the tough choices we had to make. We lessen our reliance on vulnerable systems that are no longer suited for today's advanced threat environment or are too costly to sustain," she added. 

"Critically, we reallocate resources to fund research and development in advanced technologies, such as microelectronics. This will provide the foundation for fielding a full range of needed capabilities, such as hypersonic missiles, artificial intelligence and 5G,” she continued. 

The Pentagon budget proposal is part of US President Joe Biden’s overall $6 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2022.

The Pentagon, in order to be able to pay for the shift, will divest some of its older equipment with higher maintenance costs, the sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Those include four Littoral Combat Ships, several A-10 aircraft capable of providing close air support to ground troops, as well as the number of KC-10 and KC-135 planes in the mid-air refueling fleets.

Part of the proposed budget would also be used to buy ships, jets and pay for maintenance and salaries, however, an additional $38 billion is earmarked for military-related programs at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Energy and other agencies bringing the national security budget to $753 billion, equal to a 1.7% rise over the 2021 figure.

The new budget aims to further develop and test hypersonic weapons and other "next generation" weapons systems as the US military seeks to build capabilities to counter Russia and China.

The Biden administration is also requesting 85 stealthy F-35 fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), according to the sources.

The 2021 and 2020 presidential budgets asked for 79 and 78 of the jets respectively, ultimately Congress authorized more fighters. Senators and governors have, in the meantime, come out to support the jet which has a huge industrial base.

However, the massive military spending plan is unlikely to quell criticism from Republicans that they say is too small to meet the challenges posed by China.

Meanwhile, progressives have argued that the budget plan is too large in the face of pressing domestic needs and non-military threats such as pandemics.

“President Biden’s defense budget request is wholly inadequate — it’s nowhere near enough to give our service members the resources, equipment and training they need,” Sen. Jim Inhofe (Okla.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the top Republicans on the Senate and House Armed Services committees, said in a joint statement Friday. “It’s disingenuous to call this request an increase because it doesn’t even keep up with inflation — it’s a cut.”

Progressives slam massive military funding

However, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) slammed the budget as a “failure” for increasing military funding.
“If budgets are moral documents, a $13 billion increase is a failure that doesn’t reflect this country’s actual needs,” they said. “In the last year, the biggest threat to our nation was a global pandemic, and we were drastically unprepared for it. Now we’re proposing a defense spending increase that alone is 1.5 times larger than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s entire $8.7 billion budget.”

China demands halt to provocative US moves in South China Sea

China urges the US to stop its provocative moves in the South China Sea region as Washington issues new guidelines for deepening ties with Chinese Taipei.

The budget proposal comes as China last week accused the United States of threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait after a US warship again sailed through the sensitive waterway.

According to the US Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur sailed through the waters near Chinese Taipei on May 18.

"The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the US Navy's 7th Fleet said. "The United States military will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows."

Chinese military forces tracked and monitored the ship throughout its voyage, said a spokesman for China's Eastern Theater Command, who also condemned the move.

Also, the Pentagon has announced multiple war games to be held across Europe, demanding that Russia should open up about its defense drills on its borders.
 

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