With the announcement of President Biden’s defense budget proposal last week, and the official release of DoD’s FY24 budget request on Monday, we are fully into the start of the defense budget season on Capitol Hill.

The Administration’s request for defense spending at $842 Billion, touted as the Department’s “most strategy-driven” request with the largest investments in readiness and modernization to include research and development, seems to be a reassuring sign.  Given the immediate signaling from Congressional leaders on the defense committees, we should expect to see billions added to the topline in another bipartisan effort to fund our defense requirements in this shared focus to address China as the pacing challenge.   

But what are the next steps? Now that this number has been proposed, where do we go from here?

Over the next several weeks, Secretary of Defense Austin, along with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley will present the budget in open hearings and closed briefings to the House and Senate defense committees.  Simultaneously, combatant commands and Service Secretaries and Chiefs will do the same.  All to ensure that our Congressional leaders are fully informed as they proceed into the drafting of the National Defense Authorization Act and the defense budget.

This will tell us a lot about the Defense Department’s priorities for readiness and modernization of the U.S. military, with specific call outs to critical innovation technologies and investments that include hypersonics, cyber, space capabilities, artificial intelligence, batteries, and munitions along with the more traditional modernization and readiness requirements. 

Stay tuned for more details!