US foresees $752.9 billion in military spending for fiscal year 2022
“Biden administration proposes $6 trillion budget to compete with China”. This is the headline the Japanese news agency Kyodo news reports on the US government’s planned course for 2022 to rebuild infrastructure and create better conditions to compete with China.
The White House has made no secret that the competition will first and foremost be for building up the U.S. military muscle against China.
For the next budget year, which begins on October 1, 2021, the Pentagon has been allocated 715 billion dollars, including 5.09 billion dollars to strengthen deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region of “China’s assertiveness”, which includes the purchase of 85 F-35 fighters. All told, the US is earmarking $752.9 billion for the military for fiscal year 2022.
“China poses the greatest long-term challenge to the United States”, – Kyodo news quoted the Pentagon budget review as saying that Beijing’s military modernisation activities in recent decades “have been aimed at undermining the ability of US forces to project their power in the region”. – “Unless thwarted, continued erosion could seriously undermine our ability to achieve US defence objectives and defend the sovereignty of our allies”, – the review said. In total, the Pentagon is allocating more than $66 billion in 2022 to increase the US presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Such a budget request is 1.6 per cent higher than the fiscal year 2021 set level. While this increase is slightly less than the expected inflation rate for fiscal 2022, the size of the funding will allow investment in key deterrence assets and reallocate resources to developments in advanced technologies (artificial intelligence, hypersonic missiles, 5G wireless networks), the Pentagon said.
Funding for the Navy, Air Force and Ground Forces will be increased, including for improving nuclear weapons and countering cyber threats. A total of $27.7 billion will be used to develop and modernize nuclear capabilities, including $5 billion for the Columbia Project nuclear submarine program and $3 billion for the B-21 long-range strategic bomber program.
The Pentagon is going to spend $20.4 billion on missile defense, another $20.6 billion on space systems, including launches and upgrades of the GPS navigation system, as well as $10.4 billion on cybersecurity.
The main directions of U.S. military buildup in the Indo-Pacific region are disclosed. Under the so-called Pacific Deterrence Initiative, the Pentagon will seek increased investment in “hypersonic and ground conventional fire capabilities with a range beyond the 500-kilometre limit”, the limit set by the Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missile Elimination Treaty, from which the US withdrew in 2019.
Intermediate-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear charges could be deployed at US bases in Japan and South Korea. It is quite obvious that they will target China, Russia and North Korea. Although, unlike Trump, Biden has not yet demanded that Tokyo and Seoul dramatically increase by several times the fees for the presence of US military bases and numerous personnel in these countries, it is possible that such demands will be renewed as the confrontation with China and Russia heats up.
The allocation of huge funds for war is accompanied by rhetoric about the US administration’s “peace-loving policies”. The Pentagon argues that the current budget request “reflects President Biden’s priorities such as ending endless wars, investing in advanced capabilities to provide future military and national security advantages, and revitalising the unprecedented network of US alliances and partnerships”.
Russia is included among the “serious challenges”. The United States now faces “serious challenges from countries such as China and Russia, and global security threats such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic,” the review said. The budget request, the Pentagon says, is intended to address these challenges.
The president’s budget request, which calls for total national spending of $6.01 trillion, reflects his $2.3 trillion infrastructure investment plan and $1.8 trillion investment plan for education and child care. The former is for eight years and the latter for 10 years.
“Together, these plans will reinvest in the future of the American economy and American workers and help the country surpass China and other countries around the world”, – the document said.
The Kyodo news report noted that the Biden administration intends to recoup the huge investment by raising taxes on corporations and wealthy households. The budget request document showed that spending would rise to a record $7.25 trillion in fiscal year 2021 and rise to $8.21 trillion in fiscal year 2031.
Describing the US military budget as “militaristic”, Russian President Vladimir Putin draws attention to the fact that Russia, while allocating disproportionately less money for military needs than the US, nevertheless maintains a high defence capability.
“We have the most modern, of all the nuclear powers, the most modern nuclear deterrent forces. We have new aircraft systems, which have no analogues in the world, combat surface and submarine ships, modern unmanned aerial vehicles”, – said the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces. He stressed that Russia ranks last in the top ten countries in defense spending, yielding to “pacifist” Japan.
It is Suvorov’s way: “Fight with skill, not with numbers! And one more aphorism of Alexander should not be forgotten by our enemies: “Hate overshadows reason”…
Anatoly Koshkin, FSC