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Today, the Pentagon has put forth its budgetary ambitions for the 2024 Fiscal Year, asking America to provide $842 billion in military spending, the largest nominal amount in US history. This is up 3.2% over 2023 and 13.4% over 2022. In fact, this announcement comes right after China has announced their own military budget increase of 7.6%, up to $230 billion, per Fox News. The primary citations for the request comes from the threats identified in both Russia and China. It has already been reported by Reuters that multiple Western countries in the NATO alliance have ammunition stockpiles running dangerously low, providing for Ukraine alone. The precise numbers and which countries are the most affected remain classified for security reasons. Thus, many believe a budgetary increase is in order. But how will this budget break down?
According to the White House’s budget briefing for FY 2024, the core goals of the Pentagon are to promote the security of the Indo-Pacific and to continue supporting Ukraine and its European allies. Roughly $300 billion of it is to be spent on research and development, mostly on missiles, missile systems, and missile defense. This comes at no surprise considering the lion’s share of both Russia and China’s weapons research has gone into ballistic missiles. Why challenge America on the open battlefield when China can fire at American bases deep within their own country? As such, the Pentagon wants to prepare its forces to dig in and intend to make their bases entirely unassailable.
An additional chunk of the defense budget involving research and development will revolve around modernizing US computing software, including artificial intelligence and a program the Pentagon calls the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). In plain speak, JADC2 is an integrated system the US military hopes to implement in all its branches so that they can communicate during missions. In fact, it’s already in the process of being incorporated into our latest tanks and planes. It further settles the US into a form of warfare we have developed and excelled at since World War II, joint arms warfare.
Joint Arms warfare is America’s full court press. The goal is to attack an enemy from the land, air, sea, and cyber spaces with such overwhelming precision that just one mistake in a single one of these categories can be exploited by US forces. It was the strategy the allies employed in D-Day, it was the strategy the US employed in the Gulf War against Iraq, and it remains the pinnacle of Western military doctrine today. The cost? More than $800 billion. Joint Arms warfare relies on ensuring that every branch of the military is operating at near perfect condition with the logistics and planning of many high-powered computers. Russia attempted this doctrine at the onset of their invasion of Ukraine and failed quite handily. Needless to say, it requires a lot of tax money to support.
The question then becomes, is it worth it? Countless projects initiated by the Pentagon have failed and cost hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars to even attempt. The last thing America wants is another Vietnam or Afghanistan. The Pentagon is reasonable in suggesting Russia and China pose a threat but at the end of the day, the funding for these programs come from the paychecks of American citizens and many of them would be right to ask, at what point does defense spending become excessive? That will be for Congress to decide and with both parties splitting the legislature, it is bound to be up for heavy debate. President Biden and the White House are committed to keeping the US at the forefront of international affairs and the US would not be alone on the world stage if they did increase their military budget. Virtually every major power has stepped up its military build up in the past year and the Pentagon is holding no bars in saying the time for the US to be tested globally is fast approaching.
Andres Pena is a Pinecrest resident and graduate of New York University with degrees in both English and American Literature and Political Science. He works for Miami’s Community News as both a writer and administrative assistant. For more inquiries on US and Global News, contact andres@communitynewspapers.com or call 305-951-6726.
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