Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, said the Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal year 2023 aligns with the new National Defense Strategy, which recognizes Russia and China as top national security concerns.
Hicks said the $773 billion defense budget request, an 8.1 percent increase over the previous fiscal year, positions the U.S. military to preserve its competitive advantage against Russia and China and address threats pose by Iran and North Korea, DOD reported Monday.
“Even as we confront Russia’s malign activities, the defense strategy describes how the department will act urgently to sustain and strengthen deterrence with the [Peoples Republic of China] as our most consequential strategic competitor and pacing challenge,” Hicks said.
Navy Adm. Christopher Grady, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a first-time Wash100 Award winner, accompanied Hicks in unveiling the budget request and said the proposed funding ensures that the U.S. military maintains its lethality and capabilities in the 2030s and beyond.
The Pentagon requests approximately $56.5 billion for air power platforms, more than $40.8 billion for ship construction, $12.6 billion for the modernization of U.S. Army and Marine Corps combat vehicles and $34.4 billion for nuclear weapons upgrades.
DOD also calls for more than $130 billion for research and development projects. Hicks said roughly $16.5 billion of the research and development budget will be allocated to science and technology.
The budget also provides a 4.6 percent pay raise for military and civilian personnel, Hicks said, representing DOD’s largest pay raise in two decades.
