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Austin says 2023 budget built on new defense strategy

DoD News

The fiscal 2023 Defense Budget Request was built on the bones of the new National Defense Strategy, and the request is adequate for today’s military and ensures the military remains strong in the future, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee today.

That strategy sees China as the pacing challenge for the United States. Russia, with its unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine, is also a threat that must be taken seriously. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who testified alongside Austin, said this is the most uncertain time he has seen in almost 43 years in uniform.

Spotlight: Support for Ukraine

“We are now facing two global powers, China and Russia, each with significant military capabilities, both who intend to fundamentally change the current rules-based order,” Milley said. “We are entering a world that is becoming more unstable, and the potential for significant international conflict between great powers is increasing, not decreasing.”

The rules-based order came into place at the end of the last great power war — World War II. That war killed between 70 million and 85 million people worldwide.

“We built this budget based upon our national defense strategy, … [and] we were very diligent and careful to make sure that we went after the capabilities that we needed to support that strategy,” Austin said. “ I’m confident that we were successful in doing that.”

At $773 billion, the request funds the initiatives in the Indo-Pacific region and in Europe. “This is a very healthy budget and provides a significant capability,” Austin said.

Spotlight: Focus on Indo-Pacific

Still, inflation has caused problems. “When we built the budget, we had to snap a chalk line at some point in time, as you always do when you build a budget,” he said.

Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Zachary Wheeler Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III testifies on the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2023 budget request during a hearing on Capitol Hill, May 11.

See BUDGET, Page 13

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