The Biden administration is requesting a 1% increase in defence spending to $849.8 billion in fiscal year 2025, Bloomberg reports.
President Joe Biden’s request would be about $10 billion less than the administration has projected for this year. The budget to be sent to Congress on Monday, officials said, but the cuts reflect a decision to seek less money for procurement and research and development than previously forecast as the Pentagon cuts orders for F-35 fighter jets and Virginia-class submarines that have long been delayed.
Congress has yet to approve a spending bill for this fiscal year, which began on 1 October, and has not approved a supplemental national security bill.
Despite, the US defence budget is still larger than that of any other country. China, which has the world’s second-largest defence budget, announced earlier this week that it would increase military spending by 7.2% in 2024 to $231 billion.
The Defence Ministry’s total spending figure does not include related functions such as the Energy Ministry’s nuclear weapons programmes.
Weapons and research requests are among the most closely watched metrics by the defence industry, analysts and shareholders. The Pentagon has called its fiscal year 2024 requests in these categories the highest ever.
The administration will ask Congress for $167.5 billion to procure weapons systems and $143.2 billion for research and development, officials said.
That’s less than projected last year, when the administration requested $175.3 billion for procurement and development and $145 billion. Reasons for the cuts include a request for 70 F-35 aircraft produced by Lockheed Martin Corp and a reduction in the Navy’s request for Virginia-class submarines from two to one.
According to officials, performance issues with the F-35 fighter jet will save about $1.6 billion, while the submarine cuts will save more than $2 billion and reduce the Navy’s request for new ships in fiscal 2025 to six from a planned seven.
The Budget Office has directed the Pentagon to submit all relevant voluminous supplemental materials to Congress next week along with the main budget submission. Within the spending cap, the Pentagon has the authority to reallocate money between accounts, such as between procurement and operations and maintenance.
