World News | $842 billion US defense budget proposal driven by competition with China: Austin

washington [US]Chinanews.com, March 29. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III stated that the Department of Defense’s budget proposal of US$842 billion for fiscal year 2024 is a strategy-driven budget and a budget driven by competition with China. Will provide a more resilient force posture in the Indo-Pacific region and expand the size and scope of exercises with U.S. partners.

The FY 2024 budget request includes a 40 percent increase over last year’s budget for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, to an all-time high of $9.1 billion. This will fund a stronger force posture, better defense of Hawaii and Guam, and deeper cooperation with our allies and partners.

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“This is a budget driven by strategy and driven by the seriousness of our strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China,” Austin said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“$842 billion, an increase of 3.2 percent over enacted Fiscal Year 2023 … and 13.4 percent above enacted Fiscal Year 22. This budget will help us continue to implement our National Defense Strategy and the President’s National Security Strategy.”

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The Budget will focus on three key priorities: defending our country, caring for our extraordinary people and achieving success through teamwork.

“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is our tempo challenge. We are working hard to meet it. Our budget builds on our previous investments to deter aggression. We are investing in a more resilient force posture in the Indo-Pacific and Expand the size and scope of our exercises with our partners,” he said in a statement issued by the Pentagon.

The budget also now sees the department’s largest-ever investment in R&D and procurement.

“In the Pacific, the service is forward deploying and deploying more troops while also investing in airfields, logistics, domain awareness and resiliency in places like Japan, Australia, Guam and the sovereign states participating in the Compact of Free Association,” Austin said.

The fiscal year 2024 budget request also marks the department’s largest investment in research and development, Austin said. This year, demand for R&D work is $145 billion.

The department has also requested about $170 billion in procurement to maintain the country’s dominance of land, sea and air. For example, about $61 billion is used to fund programs such as the newly launched B-21 Raider, while $48 billion is spent on building nine warships for the U.S. Navy, he said.

“We will also continue to modernize all three branches of our nuclear triad … and strengthen our strategic deterrent,” Austin told senators.

The FY 2024 request includes $37.7 billion to fund the nuclear triad, and nuclear command, control and communications.

The U.S. military is not fighting alone, so relations with allies and partner nations are also a focus of the fiscal year 2024 budget request, Austin said, emphasizing efforts in Asia and Europe.

“In recent months, our friends in the Indo-Pacific region have taken important steps forward,” Austin said.

“The Philippines has agreed to nearly double the number of sites we work with. Japan has committed to doubling its defense spending. Through the historic AUKUS partnership, we will work with our Australian and British allies to build game-changing defense This will deter aggression and increase the capabilities of our defense industry,” he added. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)