By the Numbers: Dollars for defense

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Newly passed U.S. defense bill pivots toward looming world aggressors

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

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$886 billion

The amount of spending authorized by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act that bipartisan majorities passed in December. With a 3 percent increase from last year’s spending, the 3,100-page bill shows a military pivoting away from old doctrines and toward a new era of potential power conflicts.

$3.7 billion

The budget to procure the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system, the eventual replacement for the decades-old Minuteman III land-based nuclear deterrent.

$14.7 billion

The allocation for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a grab bag of hardware, training, and infrastructure improvements in the Pacific. It is more than double the 2022 authorization.

42

The number of popular A-10 attack aircraft the bill allows the Air Force to retire, reflecting concerns that the slow, low-flying planes aren’t suited for the modern battlefield.

Politics