Obama proposes 534 bln USD defense budget for 2016

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday proposed a 534-billion-dollar defense budget package for fiscal year 2016, an increase of 38.2 billion dollars over the amount approved by Congress this year, and 11 billion dollars over the spending caps put in place by sequestration.

By major funding group, operations and maintenance receives 209. 8 billion dollars, military personnel gets 136.7 billion dollars, and procurement is set at 107.7 billion dollars.

Research, development, test and evaluation is set at 69.8 billion dollars and military construction and family housing is at 8.4 billion dollars.

By service, the Army receives 126.5 billion dollars, the Navy 161 billion dollars, the Air Force 152.9 billion dollars and defense-wide the number is 94 billion dollars.

The overseas contingency operations fund is set at 50.9 billion dollars and this is separate from the 534 billion dollars base budget. This is the lowest request since fiscal 2002.

The money funds the continued responsible transition in Afghanistan. It also provides 5.3 billion dollars for operations against the Islamic State (IS) forces. This includes training and equipping Iraqi forces and the vetting and training of moderate Syrian opposition forces.

By priority, the budget funds ongoing strategic priorities including the rebalance to the Asia-Pacific, maintaining the U.S. commitment to Europe and the Middle East and sustaining a global approach to countering violent extremists.

The budget also prioritizes and protects key technology investments and looks to continue the effort to build innovative partnerships.

Mike McCord, under secretary of U.S. Defense Department,called the budget a balanced plan. "It is aimed to protect America today, while positioning the U.S. military to face the threats of tomorrow", he said in a statement. Endite