US House of Representatives passes $700 billion defense budget

The US defense budget for 2018 is $81 billion higher than in 2017, of which $8.5 billion is dedicated to missile defense systems.

The US House of Representatives passed a bill on the defense budget on November 14.700 billion USDfor fiscal year 2018, in support of President Donald Trump's call for a stronger military,Reuterstoday news

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by an overwhelming vote of 356 to 70.The bill, passed by the US Senate in mid-September, allocates $634 billion for core Pentagon operations such as weapons purchases and salaries, and provides $66 billion to spend on military campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

The NDAA authorizes a 2.1% pay increase for soldiers, increases spending on purchasing F-35 fighter jets, warships, M1 Abrams tanks, and allocates $8.5 billion to strengthen missile defense systems in the context of North Korea continuing to conduct nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches.

The law prohibits federal government agencies from using Russian-origin software such as Kaspersky to increase the security of computer systems.

The 2018 US defense budget is $81 billion more than the nearly $619 billion approved under former President Obama. However, the US House of Representatives has yet to come up with a detailed plan on where the budget will come from to provide the Defense Department with this huge amount of money.

According to VNE