Biden Pushes Historic Defense Budget of 922 Trillion Won

Accelerating Power Competition with China and Russia
Prioritizing Nuclear Force Modernization Next Year

President Joe Biden [Photo by AP News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to push for a defense budget exceeding $770 billion (approximately 922 trillion won) next year to modernize nuclear forces. This surpasses the largest request amount recorded last year, the final year of former President Donald Trump's administration.

Major foreign media outlets reported on the 16th (local time), citing three sources, that "the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Defense are in discussions over the fiscal year 2023 (October 2022 to September 2023) defense budget request."

It is reported that both sides have reached the final agreement stage. A source who requested anonymity said, "The White House proposed a budget request similar in scale to that of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week." If an agreement is reached, the Biden administration will submit the budget proposal to Congress.

The top priority of this budget is the modernization of the "three major nuclear forces," which include strategic nuclear submarines, strategic bombers, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), along with shipbuilding, space capability development, and missile warning systems.

This reflects the U.S. intention to focus investment on nuclear force reorganization as it accelerates power competition with China and Russia. The source said, "Efforts to modernize nuclear forces are expected to be definitely included in this defense budget," adding, "The Department of Defense plans to continue investing in weapons research and development to counter all possible future wars against China and Russia."

The budget is also reported to include funding for the purchase of F-35 fighter jets and tanks produced by Lockheed Martin, the largest U.S. defense contractor, as well as expenditures related to defense activities of other departments.

However, the Department of Defense plans to reduce costs by retiring old weapons such as the costly-to-operate Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) and older aircraft like the A-10 tank destroyer, which was withdrawn from Afghanistan last year.

Last year, Congress passed a budget of $778 billion, which was $25 billion more than the $752.9 billion requested by the Trump administration. The source said, "Next year's defense budget may be increased again by Congress," and "Budget discussions will begin in earnest starting with President Biden's State of the Union address on the 1st of next month."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.