By MARCUS WEISGERBER
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s $527 billion fiscal 2014 budget request further deepens the Obama administration’s focus on the Asia-Pacific, better aligning funds with the military services expecting to play major roles in that region.
It continues investments in advanced stealth aircraft, such as -35 joint strike fighters and new bombers. These planes play a key role in the Defense Department’s ability to operate in denied airspace. Another aircraft crucial to the expansive Pacific region is a new aerial refueling tanker, the Boeing KC-46A.
“It looks like 2014 was the first year that they really had incorporated that new strategic guidance from the beginning of their budget build,” said Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank. “I would expect to see more movement like this in 2015.”
The Pentagon’s 2014 budget request seeks $99.3 billion for procurement of new weapons and $67.5 billion for research-and-development projects.
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