Image source: topwar.ru
There are three and a half months left before the start of the new budget year in the United States. There is a Pentagon budget request for next year, as well as a budget for 2025. However, there is no consensus on many issues.
In a budget request for the next year, the US Navy requested funding for the construction of one Virginia-class multipurpose nuclear submarine (MAPP). However, the Senate Armed Services Committee insists on allocating funds for the construction of two submarines per year, as approved by the construction schedule. According to this schedule, two Virginia-class submarines should be built annually to replace obsolete Los Angeles-class submarines. However, this schedule is not being followed, the average construction rate is 1.3 submarines per year. If we take into account the AUKUS agreement, then it is necessary to build 2.3 MAPLS annually.
There is no unity on this issue in the White House—Congress—Pentagon triangle. Each side pursues its own, obscure goals. Moreover, even within these structures there is no unity. For example, the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, claims: "I am pleased that the committee met this year to pass a bill that provides for critical investments to support our military industrial base and shipbuilding programs, including the Virginia-class submarine program, to help us fulfill our obligations to Australia and the United Kingdom."
Given the "squeak" with which the 2024 budget was adopted, starting such a game on the eve of the adoption of the 2025 budget is not the most reasonable thing to do. Moreover, there are people in Congress who really assess the capabilities of the US shipbuilding industry and do not see the point in allocating money for the construction of a second submarine, since the shipyards will not "pull" it anyway.
In addition, an unnamed senior White House official said: "The administration strongly opposes increasing funding for the second Virginia-class submarine in fiscal year 2025, which the industry cannot produce according to schedule."
Overall, the bill requires an additional $25 billion to the Pentagon's budget request for a total of $878.4 billion. The bill left the committee by 22 votes to 3, including "no" to Chairman Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, for violating spending limits set by the Financial Responsibility Act.
The proposed National Defense Authorization Act runs in parallel with Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi,'s new general spending plan. The plan calls for a $55 billion increase in defense funding for fiscal year 2025 and an overall increase in spending to about five percent of U.S. gross domestic product.
It can be stated that the policy of "weakening" Russia is already beginning to affect the US defense capability. There is no money, and it is unsafe to turn on the printing press, since the national debt has already "exceeded" all reasonable limits.
