Noisy with China-Russia, US boosts military spending to IDR 10,953 trillion

The US increased the budget for military spending to the equivalent of Rp. 10,953 trillion.

INDONEWTRAVEL.COM -- The United States has increased its military spending in the midst of the country's feud with China and Russia.

The US military budget for the 2022 fiscal year is US$770 billion.

Citing Reuters, US President Joe Biden has signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2022 with the nominal budget stated in the Act.

In early December, the US Senate and House of Representatives approved the defense bill by a majority vote. Vote support was obtained from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

"The law provides vital benefits and strengthens access to justice for military personnel and their families, and includes important authorities supporting our nation's national defense," Biden said.

The NDAA is subject to intense scrutiny from a number of industries and other stakeholders. The reason is, the NDAA is the only major law that becomes an annual rule.

In addition, the NDAA addresses a wide range of issues. The NDAA has become law every year for six decades.

The budget increase was 5 percent compared to last year. NDAA fiscal year 2022 is also a compromise after going through tough negotiations between the House and Senate of Democrats and Republicans.

Meanwhile, the increase in the military budget is not just the modernization of the US Main Equipment Defense System (Alutsista), from sophisticated aircraft to warships. The increase in the budget is also aimed at increasing the salaries of US military personnel by 2.7 percent.

In the NDAA, there is a budget of US$300 million (Rp4.2 trillion) for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. There is also a budget of US$4 billion (Rp56.9 trillion) for the European Defense Initiative and US$150 million (Rp2.1 trillion) for Baltic security cooperation.

The biggest budget is certainly related to the Asia-Pacific region in order to stem China's power. The NDAA includes a budget of US$7.1 billion (Rp101 trillion) for the Pacific Defense Initiative, including support for Taiwan.