Mike Stone

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s peacetime record national defense budget request (813 billion), boasts a 4.6% raise for troops and the biggest research and development budget ever. This comes as Russian aggression in Ukraine prompts calls for increased military spending.

Biden’s request for $773 billion to the Pentagon elicits $773 million more than the previous President Donald Trump. A further $40 billion will be earmarked to defense-related programs at Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Energy. This brings the total national security budget up to $813 billion from $778 billion last fiscal year.

Recent support among Republicans and Democrats for increased defense spending has been driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Republicans and Democrats see an increasing threat to national security from Vladimir Putin. This budget raises funds for Pentagon’s European Deterrence Initiative to $360 million, bringing it up to $4.2 trillion.

The budget cuts also slow down the Department of Defense’s purchase of the stealthy F-35 fighter plane, which is the Pentagon’s biggest weapons program. This comes after Air Force leaders complained about the slow technological advancements to the aircraft’s hardware.

Defense officials claim that budget talks between Lloyd Austin, Defense Secretary of Defense and the White House came together around $773 billion. The number was reported first by Reuters on February 2.

This budget will prioritize shipbuilding and missile warning, as well as missile warning, and modernizing and repairing the nuclear “triad”, which includes bombers, land-based missiles and ballistic missile submarines.

Only 61 F-35 aircraft were manufactured by Lockheed Martin The Pentagon asked for Corp (NYSE 🙂 in a decrease from the 85 requested last year. However, experts think Congress will increase this figure during the budget process.

This budget will benefit some of the largest U.S. defense contractors, including Raytheon Technologies (NYSE) Corp. Northrop Grumman Corp (NYSE -) and General Dynamics Corp (NYSE –).

This fiscal budget for 2023, which begins on October 1, has the Pentagon’s biggest ever research and development budget. $130 Billion of it is earmarked for developing weaponry such as hypersonic weapons to combat any future wars with Russia and China.

A portion of this investment comes from retiring expensive equipment such as Littoral Combat Ships and older aircraft like A-10 Warthogs. These planes are more vulnerable to sophisticated adversaries, making them less important.

Trump’s final year as president was marked by a request for $752.9 million in national defense budget. The amount was then raised by Congress by $25 billion to $778 billion in fiscal 2022.