Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Feb. 2 previewed the Defense Department’s $582.7 billion Fiscal 2017 budget request, which is less than last year’s $585 billion request though he said it includes increases in strategic areas. The budget quadruples funding for the European Reassurance Initiative, provides a 50 percent increase in funding for the war against ISIS, ?includes $71.1 billion for strategic investments in new technology, and $7 billion to increase cyber training and defenses, said Carter during a speech before the Economic Club of Washington at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C. “We don’t have the luxury of just one opponent, or the choice between current fights and future fights,” Carter said. “We have to do both. And that’s what our budget is designed to do.” The White House Office of Management and Budget will pass its full budget request to Congress on Feb. 9. (Watch Carter’s budget preview.)
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.