The US military has revealed its spending on the acquisition of weapons. According to the published information, the Pentagon's expenditures on the implementation of 87 major programs for the purchase of weapons and military equipment exceeded two trillion dollars. This information is presented in the annual report of the US Defense Department and is based on arms purchases through December 2018 inclusive. Published reports show that spending on the acquisition of weapons and military equipment increased by $ 101 billion compared to December 2017. The increase in spending on the acquisition of weapons is associated with the buildup of missile and aviation programs, as well as the development of the fleet.
A curious feature is that the report was presented on August 1, 2019, and is superimposed on the controversy in Congress, which is related to the reduction of the US military budget in the future. Senators expect to reduce the country's military spending to $ 750 billion, while members of the House of Representatives insist on a lower figure - $ 738 billion. US President Donald Trump adheres to the same position aimed at reducing the military budget in his statements. According to Reuters, Trump supports the decision of the members of the House of Representatives, that is, the reduction in spending to the $ 738 billion mark. His position is to reduce defense spending after increasing this budget item in the first 2.5 years of his term in power.
Arms spending reaches 10 percent of US GDP
Usually the Pentagon publishes such reports earlier. The publication of the report is directly related to the budget request of the White House for the next fiscal year, a similar request was sent by Donald Trump back in March 2019. However, this year there was a significant delay with the publication, which is explained by the fact that the command of the ground forces could not prepare all the necessary documents on time. The published document summarizes all the costs of military procurement programs, which include the cost of development and research, purchase, military construction, as well as equipment maintenance and operating costs. Two trillion dollars is the amount that has already been spent, directed to funding current developments and will be spent in the future. The amount was obtained by adding up all the Pentagon's procurement programs, of which there are currently 87, which is 4 more than in the previous year's report.
As noted in the Bloomberg publication, the current estimate of 87 programs for the purchase of military equipment implemented for December 2018 is $ 2.018684 trillion, as of December 2017 there were 83 such programs, and their cost was $ 1.917840 trillion. In one year, US military spending on the acquisition of weapons increased by about $ 101 billion, of which $ 51 billion accounted for an increase in the number of purchased weapons, $ 18 billion - for an increase in research work, another $ 11.5 billion - this is a recalculation, adjusted for current economic showed. As noted in Bloomberg, two trillion dollars is almost 10 percent of the US gross domestic product (GDP), which is estimated at 21.3 trillion dollars.
The four new Pentagon military programs that emerged in the 2018 report are: Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) - $ 5.18 billion; development of a long-range anti-radar missile (AARGM-ER) - $ 4.071 billion; development of a new "board number one" for the President of the United States and the creation of new communication equipment for the head of state, these programs will cost American taxpayers $ 5, 18 billion and $ 349, 6 million, respectively. Work on the upgrade of the presidential aircraft under the Air Force's VC-25B program should be completed in 2024. At the same time, the cost of acquiring two aircraft and building a hangar for them is already comparable in cost to the construction of one Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier or two nuclear attack submarines. But, as you know, you can't forbid living beautifully, if there were means.
Main expenses: fleet and aviation
The main item of expenditures on the implemented military programs falls on the navy, funding for which is estimated at $ 921.6 billion (total expenditures increased by almost $ 47 billion, or 5.4 percent), in second place are the expenses on the Air Force - almost $ 269 billion (total expenditures increased by $ 10.5 billion, or 5.6 percent), in third place is ground forces - $ 199 billion (total expenditures increased by $ 11.6 billion, or 6.2 percent). Another $ 624 billion is purchases by the Ministry of Defense itself, which grew by $ 24.1 billion, or 4 percent.
Fleet costs do stand out against the general background, but fully correspond to the reality in which the United States has lived for many decades. The former British colony after the end of World War II finally took the place of Great Britain itself, freed after the decline of the empire, over which the sun never set. At this point in time, it is the American fleet that is the most powerful in the world, although in terms of the number of warships it has already begun to lose to the Chinese fleet.
The Pentagon's largest and most expensive fleet-related project is the acquisition of Virginia-class nuclear submarines. The US military is spending $ 161.5 billion on this program. Virginia-class multipurpose nuclear submarines are classified as fourth generation submarines. In addition to the standard armament provided by the Tomahawk cruise missiles, the boats are equipped with special operations equipment. According to the American classification, these are assassin boats or hunting boats, they are able to successfully fight enemy submarines. It is known that the cost of the 13th boat of this project, commissioned in October 2016, amounted to $ 2.7 billion.
Among the aviation programs, the program for the creation and production of the fifth generation multi-functional fighter-bomber Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is unrivaled. Experts consider the creation and production of the F-35 the most expensive military program in the whole world. At the same time, in the published Pentagon report, the total cost of purchasing these fighters is not given, and the timing of the program is indicated selectively, since a large amount of information on the program is still closed.
At the same time, it is known that it was the F-35 fighter-bomber program that became an example of a serious increase in costs, in 2018 it increased by $ 25 billion, only the cost of purchasing aircraft increased by $ 15.3 billion. This is largely due to the upgrade of the fifth generation aircraft to the Block 4. In total, the US military is ready to spend $ 362.4 billion on the purchase of new F-35 aircraft, of which $ 125 billion has already been approved by Congress. The US military will spend another $ 66 billion on the purchase of engines for Lockheed Martin aircraft alone. Of this amount, which will go to Pratt & Whitney, Congress has approved 26 billion so far.
As previously reported by Bloomberg, the total cost of the F-35 program, taking into account the operation and maintenance of the fleet of fighters over the next 60 years, until 2077, is estimated at $ 1.196 trillion, of which the purchase of aircraft itself accounts for just over a third. the indicated amount. So far, the US military has not abandoned its plans to acquire 2,456 F-35 fighter-bombers, of which 1,763 aircraft are planned to be supplied to the Air Force, 420 to be transferred to the Marine Corps and another 273 aircraft from the US Navy. Potential export contracts are currently estimated at 700 aircraft.
Increased missile purchases
An important feature of the document published by the Pentagon is an increase in the cost of purchasing missiles for various purposes. Against this background, the increase in purchases of JASSM long-range aircraft cruise missiles stands out. Over the year, purchases of these missiles increased by 113.4 percent, or $ 5.4 billion. This explosive growth is associated with the decision of the US military to purchase 7,200 such cruise missiles, which is 4,335 more missiles than it was originally planned to purchase. The high-precision American AGM-158 JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) air-to-surface missile is capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 980 km. F-16 or F-35 fighters can carry two such missiles, and, for example, the old-timer B-52H strategic bomber 12 at once.
The PAC-3 MSE missiles, designed for Patriot air defense systems, are expecting a similarly large increase in purchases. The US military expects to purchase 3,100 such anti-aircraft guided missiles instead of 1,723 previously planned. The cost of purchasing these missiles increased immediately by 73, 1 percent, or 6, 6 billion dollars. It is worth noting that the main beneficiary of the increase in orders will be the Lockheed Martin Corporation, which is the developer of both missile systems.
The volume of purchases of missiles for the needs of the fleet also increased. American admirals are working to increase the air defense capabilities of the forces entrusted to them. So the volume of purchases of anti-aircraft guided missiles Standard Missile-6, developed and produced by Raytheon, increased by 31.5 percent, or 2.7 billion dollars. This is due to the desire of the US Navy to purchase 2,331 anti-aircraft missiles instead of 1,800 missiles planned earlier. The volume of purchases of another missile developed by the designers of Raytheon has also significantly increased: we are talking about the AIM-9X-2 Block II air-to-air missile. This program increased immediately by 93, 2 percent, in monetary terms - from 3, 6 to 7 billion dollars. This is due to the acquisition from Raytheon of an additional 2,957 missiles for the Air Force and 2,678 missiles for the US Navy.
