The Pentagon spends a lot of money buying long-range missiles. The US wants to use this to protect itself against future threats.
Frankfurt – Russias invasion of the Ukraine also alarmed the USA. First result: The Pentagon apparently wants to use $30.6 billion from its budget of $842 billion for fiscal year 2024 for tactical missiles and other types of ammunition. The news site reports taskandpurpose.com. The total represents a $5.8 billion increase in the Pentagon’s budget for munitions funding compared to 2023, according to the Department of Defense. This is necessary because the Ukraine war prove that the military of USA an astronomical amount of defense material in the fight against a similarly strong opponent.
Of the $30.6 billion, $17.1 billion is earmarked for the purchase of tactical missiles like Tomahawks. $7.3 billion will be used for strategic missiles and $5.6 billion for the purchase of new munitions. Coincidentally, the discussion soon turns into an explosive one Drone incident that experts are worried about because of the risk of escalation between the US and Russia.
Pentagon plans to use billions to expand long-range missile capacity
“Nearly a third of the money earmarked for purchasing ammunition is specifically earmarked for purchasing long-range ammunition to increase the numbers and performance of not only our hypersonic missiles, but also our deadliest and most survivable subsonic weapons, including the ones we already have buying near maximum capacity for years,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in a Pentagon news conference on Monday (March 13). The current budget would help increase capacity even further and ensure the maximum amount of ammunition types that would deter and, if necessary, outperform attacks from the Indo-Pacific.
As examples, Hicks cited the Tomahawk cruise missile, the naval variant JASSM-ER, or the LRASM and SM-6 missiles used against ships. For fiscal year 2024, the US Air Force plans to purchase 27 LRASM missiles and the Navy 91. This emerges from the budget papers of the Department of Defense. However, most of the money is intended for the purchase of Tomahawk long-range missiles. The reason: LRASM and other air and sea-launched missiles would still be in development and not yet ready for mass production, according to military and defense experts.
Long-range missiles, according to the Pentagon, intended for broader combat with high-end means
The expanded funding for tactical missiles is not intended to increase US military stockpiles made available to Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official said. “These are more for the broader strategy of a fight with high-end means.” These are not normal ammunition, such as those used in ground combat.
Rather, they are missiles for sea combat, standard missiles, advanced medium-range missiles for air defense (AMRAAM) and others. All these types of ammunition are intended for the US military, not Ukraine, the Defense Ministry official emphasized. Any additional artillery ammunition, rockets and missiles provided by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine would be paid for through additional grants. At the same time, Republicans and Democrats are increasing the pressure on Pentagon boss Austin, to provide F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine. (Niklas Mueller)
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