US bid to ‘outcompete’ China yields Pentagon’s largest-ever defence budget

Record US$842 billion meant to ensure Washington maintains ‘a ready, lethal, and combat-credible joint force with a laser focus’, Pentagon chief says

Major investment areas to sustain US edge over China would include integrated air and missile defences and operational energy efficiency

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US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin’s proposed budget for the Pentagon marks an increase of 3.2 per cent over 2023 and 13.4 per cent over 2022. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

Published: 4:13am, 14 Mar 2023Updated: 4:45am, 14 Mar 2023

The Pentagon made its largest-ever budget request on Monday, citing China as a “pacing challenge”.

The 2024 budget called on Congress to provide US$842 billion in defence spending, marking a 3.2 per cent increase over 2023 and a 13.4 per cent increase over 2022. The announcement came a week after China presented a military budget of $230 billion, a 7.6 per cent jump from last year.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement on Monday that the budget would allow the Pentagon to “invest in capabilities that will ensure we maintain a ready, lethal, and combat-credible joint force with a laser focus on China as the department’s pacing challenge and addressing the acute threat posed by Russia”.

Austin added that the new budget would make “major investments” to “sustain” America’s military advantage over China. He identified such areas as including “integrated air and missile defences and operational energy efficiency” as well as “our air dominance, our maritime dominance, and in munitions, including hypersonics”.

Beijing already possesses hypersonic missiles that travel five times faster than the speed of sound, but Washington is still developing the technology.

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