Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III told the committee — which is the committee that has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate — that the pacing challenge posed by China requires the United States to invest in research and fielding of new technologies or new ways of using existing technologies.
Austin and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the $715 billion request will allow DOD to deliver modernization to service members and provide security to American citizens.
“There’s always a balance,” Milley told the senators. “Previous budgets biased … to the present. This budget starts leaning into the future. And it’s now that we need to pivot because the future — believe it or not — is going to get here someday. And about 10 to 15 years from now, we will be in a world of hurt in the national security geostrategic world, unless we invest in the modernization of the United States military.”
The fiscal 2022 request fully funds the department’s top priority of nuclear modernization. It also provides significant funds for artificial intelligence, hypersonics, long-range fires, microelectronics, cyber defense and attack and 5G computer technologies. Additionally, it continues to fund more traditional capabilities like shipbuilding, new aircraft and space technologies, Austin said.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III told the committee — which is the committee that has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate — that the pacing challenge posed by China requires the United States to invest in research and fielding of new technologies or new ways of using existing technologies.
Austin and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the $715 billion request will allow DOD to deliver modernization to service members and provide security to American citizens.
“There’s always a balance,” Milley told the senators. “Previous budgets biased … to the present. This budget starts leaning into the future. And it’s now that we need to pivot because the future — believe it or not — is going to get here someday. And about 10 to 15 years from now, we will be in a world of hurt in the national security geostrategic world, unless we invest in the modernization of the United States military.”
The fiscal 2022 request fully funds the department’s top priority of nuclear modernization. It also provides significant funds for artificial intelligence, hypersonics, long-range fires, microelectronics, cyber defense and attack and 5G computer technologies. Additionally, it continues to fund more traditional capabilities like shipbuilding, new aircraft and space technologies, Austin said.
