Americas

Biden Ready to Cut F-35 Buys, Alaska, Guam Missile Defenses in Budget Talks - Report

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - President Joe Biden is looking to reduce the number of expensive new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters the US armed forces want to buy in the coming fiscal year by 18% to stay within the financial limits imposed on the military budget by Congress, wire service reports said.
Sputnik
The Department of Defense had included a request for 83 new F-35s in the coming defense budget, but that would now be reduced to only 70 of the aircraft, saving $1.6 billion, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday.
Biden would cap the total military budget at $895 billion, Reuters reported, citing sources speaking on condition of anonymity.
Military
US Navy Pays Lockheed $1.15Bln More to Build New Maintenance Sites For F-35
The final agreed figure will be made public on March 11 following negotiations between Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the report said, citing the anonymous sources.
Plans to boost missile defenses at the US base on the Pacific island of Guam may also be slashed, along with planned modernization upgrades to the Ground-Based Interceptors (GBIs) in Alaska and proposed new SM3-1B interceptor missiles to be deployed on US Navy AEGIS destroyers and cruisers, the report said.
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