The Army is continuing to focus its attention on the Indo-Pacific region in preparation for a conflict with China, as evidenced by the service’s fiscal 2025 budget request.
Its fiscal 2025 budget request, released on Monday along with all the service branches’ budgets, includes $1.5 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and more than $375 million for 11 exercises and employment, which accounts for roughly a 200% increase from last year’s request.
The Army is also seeking around $460 million for 40 Pacific Pathways exercises, conducted by U.S. Army Pacific forces, which Undersecretary of the Army Gabe Camarillo said “is an increase from the prior year and also reflects our steady commitment to building relationships with partners and allies in the region.”
“It also includes rotational deployments to the Pacific, utilization of our 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade, and increased use of the [Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center], which is the first rotational training center that is located in the Pacific,” he added.
The Pentagon remains committed to its 2022 National Defense Strategy and the president’s National Security Strategy, which characterizes China as a “pacing challenge,” hence the focus on the Pacific.
The Biden administration released its defense spending fiscal 2025 request on Monday, and it represents a 1% increase in defense spending. The request includes $849.8 billion for the Pentagon. As the administration worked through its 2025 budget, it was handicapped by last year’s Fiscal Responsibility Act, which required it to be about a 1% increase from the fiscal 2024 request. However, due to inflation, the department effectively cut about $10 billion from last year’s plan.
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Given the financial restrictions, the request has “a strong focus on executability and necessary emphasis on near-term readiness and people investments,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told reporters. “But to be clear, we must grow the defense budget in the out years of our future years’ defense program if we want to achieve the goals of the National Defense Strategy, especially in the face of rapid modernization by the PRC.”
Congress never passed the department’s fiscal 2024 budget.
