WASHINGTON: The prospect of growing military threats from both China and Russia is bolstering bipartisan support for increased Pentagon spending, setting off another potential boom for the Pentagon. arms manufacturers have the ability to go beyond the world. war in ukraine. Congress is moving ahead over the next week to give final approval to the national military budget for the current fiscal year, which is expected to come in at about $858 billion — or $45 billion more than that. what the President offers. Biden already requested.
If approved at this level, Pentagon budget will grow 4.3% annually over the past two years – even after inflation – compared with an average of less than 1% a year in real dollars between 2015 and 2021, according to an analysis by the Center for Pricing Strategy and Budget for the New York Times. Procurement spending will increase sharply next year, including a 55 percent increase in the military budget for new missiles and a 47 percent increase in naval weapons purchases.
On Friday, Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, put military buildup in strategic terms, saying the war in Ukraine has exposed deficiencies in the country’s military-industrial base. States need to be addressed to ensure the United States “can support Ukraine and can deal with contingencies in other parts of the world”.
Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest military contractor, has placed a military missile order worth more than $950 million from the Pentagon in part to replenish stockpiles being used in Ukraine. The military has awarded Raytheon Technologies more than $2 billion in contracts to provide missile systems to expand or supplement weapons used to help Ukraine.
“We spent six years making Stingers in 10 months,” Gregory J Hayes, Raytheon’s chief executive, said in an interview earlier this month, referring to the company’s 1,600 man-portable air defense missiles. the company was sent by the US to Ukraine. “So it’s going to take us years to add and supplement.”
But those contracts are just the leading edge of what is shaping up to be a major new defense construction. Military spending next year is on track to reach its highest level in inflation terms since the highest cost levels in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from 2008 to 2011, and the second highest in inflation terms. since World War II – more than the budgets for the next 10 largest cabinet agencies combined.
Even more orders are coming to military contractors from US allies in Europe and Asia, as they have also concluded that they must do more to arm themselves against threats. global is on the rise. This month, Japan doubled its defense spending over the next five years, setting aside the pacifist stance it has largely maintained since 1945.
And none of this takes into account the estimated $18 billion that has been planned but is currently delaying the delivery of weapons to arm Taiwan against a possible attack in the near future. China’s future.
Combination of war in ukraine and a growing consensus on the emergence of a new era of superpower confrontation is driving efforts to ensure the military-industrial base can meet the increased demand. The issue has become urgent on several occasions as the United States and its NATO allies seek to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine without reducing their stockpiles to worrying levels. The Ukrainian military has surpassed the missile production capacity of Western suppliers for many years in just a few months.
The annual military authorization bill passed the Senate on Thursday to prevent the air force and navy from withdrawing aging weapons systems the military wants to decommission. At the same time, it includes billions of dollars in additional money to build more new ships and planes than is required by the Pentagon itself, including $2.2 billion alone for a guided-missile destroyer. supplement, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Spending could be even higher, as Congress is also considering a request for an additional $21.7 billion to the Pentagon, above the expanded annual budget for 2023, to allocate more money to resupply materials used in Ukraine.
If approved at this level, Pentagon budget will grow 4.3% annually over the past two years – even after inflation – compared with an average of less than 1% a year in real dollars between 2015 and 2021, according to an analysis by the Center for Pricing Strategy and Budget for the New York Times. Procurement spending will increase sharply next year, including a 55 percent increase in the military budget for new missiles and a 47 percent increase in naval weapons purchases.
On Friday, Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, put military buildup in strategic terms, saying the war in Ukraine has exposed deficiencies in the country’s military-industrial base. States need to be addressed to ensure the United States “can support Ukraine and can deal with contingencies in other parts of the world”.
Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest military contractor, has placed a military missile order worth more than $950 million from the Pentagon in part to replenish stockpiles being used in Ukraine. The military has awarded Raytheon Technologies more than $2 billion in contracts to provide missile systems to expand or supplement weapons used to help Ukraine.
“We spent six years making Stingers in 10 months,” Gregory J Hayes, Raytheon’s chief executive, said in an interview earlier this month, referring to the company’s 1,600 man-portable air defense missiles. the company was sent by the US to Ukraine. “So it’s going to take us years to add and supplement.”
But those contracts are just the leading edge of what is shaping up to be a major new defense construction. Military spending next year is on track to reach its highest level in inflation terms since the highest cost levels in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from 2008 to 2011, and the second highest in inflation terms. since World War II – more than the budgets for the next 10 largest cabinet agencies combined.
Even more orders are coming to military contractors from US allies in Europe and Asia, as they have also concluded that they must do more to arm themselves against threats. global is on the rise. This month, Japan doubled its defense spending over the next five years, setting aside the pacifist stance it has largely maintained since 1945.
And none of this takes into account the estimated $18 billion that has been planned but is currently delaying the delivery of weapons to arm Taiwan against a possible attack in the near future. China’s future.
Combination of war in ukraine and a growing consensus on the emergence of a new era of superpower confrontation is driving efforts to ensure the military-industrial base can meet the increased demand. The issue has become urgent on several occasions as the United States and its NATO allies seek to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine without reducing their stockpiles to worrying levels. The Ukrainian military has surpassed the missile production capacity of Western suppliers for many years in just a few months.
The annual military authorization bill passed the Senate on Thursday to prevent the air force and navy from withdrawing aging weapons systems the military wants to decommission. At the same time, it includes billions of dollars in additional money to build more new ships and planes than is required by the Pentagon itself, including $2.2 billion alone for a guided-missile destroyer. supplement, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Spending could be even higher, as Congress is also considering a request for an additional $21.7 billion to the Pentagon, above the expanded annual budget for 2023, to allocate more money to resupply materials used in Ukraine.
