(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden’s proposed $773 billion budget for the Defense Department would increase spending on nuclear modernization as well as research and development, while provoking likely opposition in Congress through proposals to cut back on Army troops and retire aging Navy ships and Air Force planes.
The request for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 represents 4.2% nominal growth or 1.5% real growth after accounting for inflation compared with the $742 billion final appropriation for this fiscal year, a senior defense official told reporters. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin successfully pressed Biden to protect the department’s purchasing power, according to the official, who discussed the budget on condition of anonymity in advance of its release Monday.
In a budget that Biden said would provide “for one of the largest investments in our national security in history,” the Air Force appears to be the biggest winner among the military services. Its $194 billion request reflects 8% real growth, Major General James Peccia, the Air Force’s budget director, told reporters.
The defense budget proposal is part of an $813.3 billion national security request that also includes the nuclear arsenal maintained by the Energy Department and the FBI’s national security functions.
The proposal faced immediate push-back from Republicans in Congress who argue that it fails to keep up with inflation — or with challenges including China’s rising military might and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, President Biden’s FY23 budget has proven to be, once again, wholly inadequate,” Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “Most importantly, this budget fails to account for the record high inflation that is wreaking havoc on our nation. My colleagues and I were clear with President Biden: Our warfighters need a defense budget that is 5% above the rate of inflation.”
Democratic progressives can be expected to continue their long-running efforts to curb defense budgets in favor of domestic needs.
The White House will spell out its priorities in a new National Defense Strategy that was sent to Congress Monday in classified form.
The budget request reflects plans for costly new defense systems — from upgrading the nation’s aging nuclear weapons to developing new hypersonic weapons. There’s a special emphasis on developing new missile warning satellites and protecting those already in orbit.
Under Biden, the Pentagon has stressed retiring older “legacy platforms” to steer operations and maintenance savings into programs like artificial intelligence and space systems that would be more relevant in a conflict with China.
Among proposed cuts in weapons and troops:
- The Air Force would retire 150 aircraft, including A-10 ground attack planes, C-130H transports, F-22 training jets, KC-135 tankers, T1 trainers and AWACs and JSTARS air and ground surveillance aircraft.
- The Army would reduce 12,000 troops from its authorized active-duty strength of 485,000, a cut officials described as temporary without elaborating on when recruiting goals would be increased to add more personnel.
- The Navy wants to “decommission” 24 vessels over several years, including nine of the 16 lightly armored and hard-to-maintain Littoral Combat Ships built by Lockheed Martin Corp. Despite pledges to expand the Navy, that would reduce the total fleet from 298 deployable ships to 280 by 2027.
Nuclear Modernization
One of the the biggest jumps in spending in the nuclear modernization budget would be for Northrop Grumman Corp.’s new B-21 bomber. The plane, capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional weapons, would get $5 billion in combined research and procurement, up about $2 billion from the current year.
Spending on the Columbia-class submarine, the Navy’s top program, would increase by $1.3 billion to $6.3 billion. The sub, built by General Dynamics Corp. and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., also can carry both nuclear and conventional missiles.
The only major weapons program that would be ended under the budget request is a new submarine-launched, nuclear-tipped cruise missile proposed under the Trump administration. It was eliminated under the nuclear posture review that’s part of the new National Defense Strategy, according to a senior defense official who also asked not to be identified.
Still, total spending on nuclear weapons and systems research and procurement would grow to $34.4 billion from this year’s $27.7 billion request and the $33 billion projected for fiscal 2023 in the final Trump budget plan.
R&D Surge
The budget request earmarks $130.1 billion for research and development — the Pentagon’s largest-ever and about $15.6 billion more than the White House budget office projected last year.
It includes $16.5 billion for science and technology innovation, $4.7 billion for hypersonic weapons, $3.3 billion for microelectronics and 5G initiatives, $3.2 billion for the B-21 bomber and $1 billion for a new Air Force-managed “Resilient Missile Missile Warning/Missile Tracking system” intended to spot Chinese and Russian hypersonic systems.
Procurement Highlights
The administration requested $145.9 billion for procurement, about $9.4 billion more than projected last year. Among items are 61 F-35 jet fighters from Lockheed Martin Corp., 33 fewer than previously planned; $1.78 billion in initial procurement of the B-21 bomber and $7.3 billion for two Virginia-class submarines from General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls. An additional $1 billion is requested to buy 252 of the latest-model Patriot air defense systems, up from 180 this year.
Overall, the Navy requests $28 billion to build nine new vessels, including two Aegis-class DDG-51 Flight III destroyers from General Dynamics for $5.6 billion and one new Constellation-class frigate for $1.3 billion, instead of two previously planned.
Army Request
The Army’s $178 billion request reflects a modest increase of almost $3 billion over this year’s enacted budget. That includes a $1.5 billion procurement reduction, to $21.3 billion, and an $800 million reduction to $13.7 billion in research and development but a $3 billion increase to operations and maintenance accounts to fund combat center rotations and a 4.6% pay increase for civilian employees.
A matching raise for soldiers is in the service’s personnel account.
(Updates with Republican reaction in sixth paragraph)
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