The head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, has called on the US authorities to allocate $50 billion more to defense spending than planned for 2026, and to increase these costs to more than $1 trillion in the 2028 fiscal year, Bloomberg reported, citing Austin's letter to the US administration. to the Department of Management and Budget.
According to the agency, Austin advised the Department of Management and Budget to keep the President-elect Donald Trump's administration's five-year defense construction plan, which calls for $926.5 billion in 2026, even though that amount was projected to be $876.8 billion.
The plan proposes spending $972.8 billion in fiscal year 2027 and more than $1 trillion in 2028. "Meeting the demands of our strategy requires above-inflation real growth and sustained new investment in fiscal years 2026-2030," Austin wrote.
The head of the Pentagon has called for defense spending to be approximately 3% of the US GDP in fiscal years 2027-2030, Bloomberg notes. According to estimates by the Office of Management and Budget, 3.2% of GDP is allocated to defense in fiscal year 2024. In addition, Austin noted that Pentagon funding should not include aid to Ukraine and Israel. According to the US Defense Minister, foreign military aid should be financed at the expense of additional allocations.
