Sunday, 14 June_US Senate Armed Services Committee has approved a $740 billion military budget that partially calls for spending nearly $7 billion over two years to launch an aggressive move towards deterring China and shoring up American military buildup in the Pacific region.
The budget further calls for strategic deployments of weapons and platforms to keep China and other perceived threats, such as Russia, at bay, according to a Friday report by Military.com news outlet.
The Pacific Deterrence Initiative, approved as part of the Senate version of the 2021 defense budget and policy bill, also includes $1.4 billion for next year and plans $5.5 billion for fiscal 2022 to augment missile defense, fund new efforts in support of regional allies, and forward-posture more troops in the region.
"The best way to protect US security and prosperity in Asia is to maintain a credible balance of military power but, after years of underfunding, America's ability to do so is at risk," said a summary of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Senate-approved NDAA "encourages" the US Air Force to establish a new F-35A Joint Strike Fighter operating location in the Indo-Pacific region "quickly to posture ready forces in our priority arena," added the summary of the bill.
Elements of the Pacific Deterrence Initiative also include improving active and passive missile-defense systems for bases and operating locations in the region; building up the military's system of prepositioned stockpiles, including vehicles, weapons and fuel; and starting to transition the military's operating model in the Pacific from large and difficult-to-defend bases to "dispersed, resilient, and adaptive basing."
Deploying Israeli-made Iron Dome weapons system
The bill further requires the secretary of the Army to draft and present a plan to station or deploy its two batteries of interim cruise missile defense capability into operational theaters. This refers to the Israeli-built Iron Dome weapons system that was purchased by the US Army in 2019 to fill what was considered as an urgent capability gap. The Army is due to take delivery of the first of two Iron Dome batteries in December.
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