Defense & Security News - United States
 
US President Donald Trump asked another $30 billion for defense funding to defeat Islamic State.
In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan today, President Donald J. Trump asked for another $30 billion for the Defense Department in this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, to rebuild the armed forces and accelerate the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
     
In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan today, President Donald J. Trump asked for another $30 billion for the Defense Department in this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, to rebuild the armed forces and accelerate the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
U.S. Stryker vehicles were deployed on the outskirts of the Syrian town, Manbij to fight Islamic State fighters in the country.
     
Trump's budget, if approved by Congress, would not take effect until the new fiscal year on October 1, but the White House has also submitted a supplemental request to Congress for an additional $30 billion in defense funding for the rest of 2017.

The fiscal 2017 budget amendment provides $24.9 billion in base funds for urgent warfighting readiness needs and to begin a sustained effort to rebuild the armed forces, according to the president’s letter.

The request includes $5.1 billion in overseas contingency operations funds so the department can accelerate the campaign to defeat ISIS and support Operation Freedom's Sentinel in Afghanistan, he said, noting that the request would enable DoD to pursue a comprehensive strategy to end the threat ISIS poses to the United States.

The U.S. President's will raise spending for the Defense Department to $639 billion for fiscal year 2018. U.S. armed forces would like to increase number of ships in the US Navy fleet and build additional F-35 fighter jets to expand the Air Force.

There is several priorities in the proposal budget 2017, including a $13.5 billion request to build and modernize additional Army Apache and Blackhawk helicopters, F-35 and F/A 18 fighter jets, tactical missiles and unmanned aircraft.

More than $3 billion of the addition money would be allocated to the fight against ISIS, including $2 billion for a flexible fund that would allow the Pentagon to decide how to utilize resources in support of the new counter-ISIS strategy.

The White House is also asking for $1.1 billion to support ongoing US operations in Afghanistan and infrastructure improvements to the Guantanamo Bay detention center.