There will be a cut in the US defense budget

President Donald Trump’s decision

Credits : US Defense Department

Washington (USA) – US President Donald Trump has taken many big decisions as soon as he came to power. He has now asked senior US military officials to come up with a plan to cut the defense budget. This could lead to an annual cut of 8 percent in the US defense budget. This is likely to be a total cut of $290 billion (approximately Rs. 25 lakh crore) over the next 5 years.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said beginning immediately, the Pentagon will pull 8% — or roughly $50 billion — from nonlethal programs in the current budget and refocus that money on President Donald J. Trump’s “America First” priorities for national defense. If these cuts are fully implemented, this figure will decrease annually and will be estimated at $560 billion (approximately Rs. 48 lakh crore) after 5 years.

🚨Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders $50B in military spending cuts to fund President Trump’s priorities! 🇺🇸💰

🎯 Targeted areas:
– Bloated bureaucracy

– Climate change programs

– DEI initiatives

Streamlining defense to put America first!

PC: @TheManilaTimes pic.twitter.com/XFc3fwaVKZ

— Sanatan Prabhat (@SanatanPrabhat) February 20, 2025

“That’s not a cut; it’s refocusing and reinvesting existing funds into building the force that protects you, the American people,” Hegseth said.

He also said there are certain areas where funds will not be refocused — border protection, fighting transnational criminal organizations, nuclear modernization, submarine programs, missile defense, drone technology, cybersecurity, core readiness and training and the defense industrial base among them.

This report comes after Elon Musk’s Government Efficiency Department visited the Pentagon last week. He is facing severe criticism from both the army and Congress for this.