Congress Approves New Defence Budget

Congress has approved the new defence budget worth $825 billion, larger than what was predicted in 2023. The updated budget exceeds the previously predicted budget by $29 billion, Defence One reports. Asia-Pacific, War in Ukraine, and changing warfare conditions are understood to have a role in the adjustment. $92 million was added to the $9.1 billion budget for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative. For Ukraine, a budget of $300 million has been approved under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. A budget of $33.5 billion for the U.S. Navy includes two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, two Virginia-class submarines, two Constellation-class frigates, one Columbia-class submarine, and a T-AO tanker. In addition to the new acquisitions, the Navy’s request to retire four ships has been denied. On the aircraft to be acquired, a budget for 86 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, 15 KC-46 tanker aircraft, and 24 F-15EX has been allocated. Investments in hypersonic weapons are being continued with a funding of $2.1 billion for the Army’s trailer-based Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) and the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) set to be integrated on Zumwalt-class destroyers. LRHW and CPS have a common hypersonic glider with different booster rockets, the former having a larger one to compensate for the lack of mobility that Zumwalt-class destroyers have. A plan for 8 CPS hypersonic weapon systems was present for Fiscal Year 2024 in the multi-year munition acquisition proposal of the U.S. Navy.