President Joe Biden released his official governmental 2025 defence budget plea in March, and in the report, his administration’s misplaced priorities are on full screen.
The standard demand fails to correlate investing with strategy, despite giving lip service to the idea that China is the main challenge for the United States.
Most outrageously, the demand fails to collect the ships, plane, and munitions the defense needs to hinder China in the Indo- Pacific.
It is, in a word, insufficient to keep the American people healthy.
A substitute” Conservative Defense Budget for Fiscal Year 2025″ by The Heritage Foundation provides an alternative model that would appear financially conservative and carefully focused.
>, >, >, Read more:” A Conservative Defense Budget for Fiscal Year 2025“
By contrast, to account for the historically high inflation levels throughout this administration’s tenure and to provide a real increase in military capacity, the fiscal 2025 conservative budget calls for a roughly 3 % overall increase over the official fiscal 2024 request ( as opposed to the 1 % increase called for in the president’s fiscal 2025 request ) with procurement accounting for the majority of new funding.
Additionally, it calls for purchasing to be funded by shifts from other areas of the defence budget, in addition to the new investing.
Potential adversaries are prioritizing real military capacity, which is the foundation of the U.S. defense budget, and these items also need to be prioritized also. When faced with budget considerations, the service generally cut purchasing.
In the established fiscal 2025 ask, for example, the Navy chose to reduce a , Virginia- class submarine and the Air Force opted to reduce its procurement of F- 35 fighter jets. Meanwhile, the Air Force increased its Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation ( RDT&, E) budget, and the Navy proposed to hire an additional 2, 000 civilian employees.
But procurement of vital capabilities, such as ships and aircraft, should be the , last , place the Pentagon chooses to cut when faced with budget constraints, especially given the around- term challenge posed by China’s spectacular military buildup.
Within RDT&, E, the Defense Department must focus spending on the projects that are most likely to produce real military capacity, such as the Next Generation Air Dominance ( NGAD ) platform.
Generalized RDT&, E jobs, RDT&, E tasks of secondary importance, and all nondefense RDT&, E tasks must be cut and reallocated to the purchasing of boats, helicopters, and weapons.
The conservative defense budget supports the troops by supporting the requested 4.5 % pay raise, supporting the relocation of$ 400 million to family housing to improve service members ‘ lives, and calling for the end of the politicized, woke policies that negatively impact readiness and recruitment.
In terms of strategy, the conservative defense budget supports an Indo-Pacific denial strategy. Despite the fact that U.S. forces defend the country’s homeland and collaborate closely with allies and partners to counteract other threats, the main goal of denial is to deny Chinese hegemony in the Indo-Pacific.
The United States is confronted by a dangerous world, and it has limited resources to deal with all of its threats. Biden regrettably does not acknowledge this in his defense budget request.
As a result, it’s increasingly vital for the United States—and the Defense Department in particular—to prioritize the Indo- Pacific.
That means putting the focus on U.S. forces first and foremost on defending the country and denying China’s imperial ambitions while supporting U.S. allies and partners in efforts to avert other threats. In doing so, the United States can protect Americans ‘ security, freedom, and prosperity, while also strengthening America’s alliances and partnerships around the world so that they, too, can live without fear.
To resource this strategy of denial, U. S. defense spending will have to focus on the procurement of ships, planes, and munitions relevant to the Indo- Pacific. The conservative defense budget includes in-depth recommendations for munitions procurement and favors for the Navy to purchase two Constellation-class frigates and two Virginia-class submarines in fiscal 2025.
Defense spending should be based on strategy and be focused on lethal and military capabilities. Nondefense spending, politicized initiatives within the Pentagon, and unfocused spending all distract from the military’s core mission of defending the American people.
Given the rapid expansion of Chinese military capabilities in recent years, U.S. defense spending must concentrate on those capabilities that would deter China from entering the Indo-Pacific.
The Pentagon has neglected the procurement of new ships, planes, and munitions for decades. The recommendations in this  and special report  go a long way toward erasing those flaws and ensuring that the U.S. military is capable and prepared to carry out its mission.
