US Defence Secretary Hegseth Defends $1.5 Trillion Military Budget

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth said the record request would "position our forces for the current and future fights" while reversing years of "underinvestment and mismanagement."

"The $1.5 trillion budget will ensure that the United States continues to maintain the world's most powerful and capable military," he said.

Hegseth framed the proposal as a generational reset of US military strength, highlighting investments in industrial capacity, advanced weapons and troop welfare. He pointed to a "seven percent" pay increase for junior enlisted personnel and said the budget would eliminate "all poor or failing barracks."

"A nation's ability to build, to innovate and to support the critical needs of its warfighters at speed and at scale, is the foundation upon which its deterrence and survival rests," he said.

The defence chief also stressed efforts to overhaul the Pentagon's procurement system, saying the department had shifted "from a bureaucratic model to a business model" aimed at delivering faster and more cost-effective outcomes.

He cited more than $50 billion in private-sector investments driven by Pentagon initiatives, including "280 new or expanded facilities" and "more than 70,000 new jobs," calling it "a historic demonstration of American manufacturing and defence revitalisation."

On the ongoing conflict with Iran, Hegseth described US military operations as highly effective, insisting that Washington had significantly degraded Tehran's capabilities.

"Our military objectives have been stunningly effective," he said, adding that Iran was now "completely incapable at scale" of rebuilding key elements of its defence infrastructure.

He argued that the campaign had strengthened US leverage to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. "We've put the president in a very strong position to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," he said.

Hegseth also pushed back against criticism of the war effort, warning that "defeatist words" from political opponents risk undermining military gains.

"The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words," he said, adding that the administration was confronting "a 47-year threat" with "courage no other president has had."

The secretary repeatedly emphasised that the budget was designed to restore deterrence across multiple domains, including drones, missile defence and nuclear forces.

"This is a warfighting budget," he said. "Every policy we pursue... serves to ensure that this department remains laser focused on increasing lethality and survivability."

He also underscored improvements in recruitment and morale, saying young Americans were joining the military "at historic numbers" and that retention rates were rising.

"We fight to win in every scenario," Hegseth said.

The proposed budget marks a sharp increase from the roughly $1 trillion defence outlay in fiscal year 2026 and comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions involving China, Russia and Iran.

The US has steadily expanded defence spending in recent years, driven by strategic competition with China and ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.

- IANS