DepSecDef Hicks called the president’s $715 billion spending request “a foundation for fielding a full range of needed capabilities.” Republicans called.
Pentagon seeks $715 billion budget focused on the future fight, scraps OCO fund
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Buy PhotoThe Pentagon. (Stars and Stripes)
The Pentagon on Friday unveiled a $715 billion budget request for fiscal year 2022, asking Congress for the Defense Department’s largest-ever investment in developing next-generation weaponry that top defense officials cite as necessary to maintain military advantages over China and Russia.
President Joe Biden’s first Pentagon budget request places an emphasis on the future battlefield, with the Defense Department primarily focused on China, which seeks military parity with the United States in the coming years, said Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The 2022 budget request represents an essentially flat budget, seeking an increase in funds of 1.6% more than the 2021 Pentagon budget, moving some money used for current readiness in recent years to prepare for a future fight.
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email US Air Force Details Proposed Cuts to Planes, Flying Hours
2022 budget request would retire scores of fighters and tankers and cut thousands of flying hours to fund modernization. May 28, 2021 01:59 PM ET
The U.S. Air Force wants to cut thousands of flying hours and scores of combat aircraft to make room for modest increases in personnel and modernization spending, according to its fiscal 2022 budget request.
“The Air Force cannot successfully fight tomorrow’s conflicts with yesterday’s weapons,” the service said in its budget request. “We recognize the need for change in order to protect the American way of life.”