The United States has the world's largest defense budget. In fiscal year
2010, the
Department of Defense (DoD) had a base budget of $533.8 billion. An additional $130 billion was requested for "
Overseas Contingency Operations" in the
War on Terrorism, and over the course of the year, an additional $33 billion in supplemental spending was added to Overseas Contingency Operations funding.[17][18]
Outside of direct DoD spending, the
United States spends another $218 to $262 billion each year on other defense-related programs, such as
Veterans Affairs,
Homeland Security, nuclear weapons maintenance, and the
State Department.
By service, $225.2 billion was allocated for the
Army, $171.7 billion for the
Navy and
Marine Corps, $160.5 billion for the
Air Force and $106.4 billion for defense-wide spending.[19] By
function, $
154.2 billion was requested for personnel, $283.3 billion for operations and maintenance, $
140.1 billion for procurement, $79.1 billion for research and development, $23.9 billion for military construction, and $
3.1 billion for family housing.[20]
In FY 2009, major defense programs saw continued funding:
$4.1 billion was requested for the next-generation fighter,
F-22 Raptor, which was to roll out an additional 20 planes in 2009
$6.7 billion was requested for the
F-35 Lightning II, which is still under development, but 16 planes were slated to be built
The Future Combat System program is expected to see $3.6 billion for its development.
A total of $12.3 billion was requested for missile defense, including
Patriot CAP,
PAC-3 and
SBIRS-High.
Obama's FY
2011 budget proposed a 4% increase in DoD spending, followed by a 9% decrease in FY
2012, with funding remaining level for subsequent years.
Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the
Lexington Institute, has blamed the "vast sums of money" squandered on cutting-edge technology projects that were then canceled on shortsighted political operatives who lack a long-term perspective in setting requirements. The result is that the number of items bought under a given program are cut. The total development costs of the program are divided over fewer platforms, making the per-unit cost seem higher and so the numbers are cut again and again in a death spiral.[21]
Cost containment measures in the
Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act and the
Obama administration's energy policy will play a critical determining roles because health care and fuel costs are the two fastest-growing segments of the defense budget.
As of 31 December 2013, 1,
369,532 people were on active duty in the armed forces,[4] with an additional 850,880 people in the seven reserve components.[5] It is an all-volunteer military, but conscription through the
Selective Service System can be enacted at the
President's request and
Congress' approval. All males ages 18 through 25 who are living in the United States are required to register with the
Selective Service for a potential future draft.
The U.S. military is the world's second largest, after
China's People's Liberation Army, and has troops deployed around the globe.
From
1776 until
September 2012, a total of 40 million people have served in the
United States Armed Forces.[24]
In early
2007,
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proposed an increase in the overall size of the Army and Marine Corps to meet the needs of the War on Terrorism.[25]
Current plans are to increase the Army to 547,400 and the Marine Corps to 202,
000 by 2012. The expansion will cost a total of $90.7 billion between 2009 and 2013 as the Navy and Air Force undergo a limited force reduction.[26] In addition, in 2009,
Gates proposed increasing the size of the Army by 22,000 troops in order to reduce fatigue from multiple trips overseas, and to compensate for troops who are in recovery away from their units.[citation needed] The FY 2011 DoD budget request[27] plan calls for an active military end strength of 1.4 million, an increase of 77,
500 from the 2007 baseline as a result of increments in the Army (65,000 more troops) and Marine Corps (27,
100 more troops) strength and decrements in the Navy (13,
300 fewer troops) and
Air Force (1,300 fewer troops) strength.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Armed_Forces
- published: 20 Dec 2014
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