The King of the Hill, Trump, has once again made a move. This time, he transformed into a military expert and formulated a future development plan for the world's number one military power, summarizing it as spending more money, but the combat effectiveness of the US military may significantly decline.
On June 26, the U.S. Department of Defense released the fiscal year 2026 defense budget proposal, with a total budget reaching $96.16 billion, an increase of 13.4% compared to the 2025 fiscal year, roughly equivalent to the GDP of Saudi Arabia for a year. However, even with such a large sum of money, it still cannot hide the decline in the United States' military strength. The U.S. Department of Defense stated that this budget draft aims to achieve Trump's proposed "1 trillion dollar" defense investment goal, prioritizing the enhancement of domestic security and revitalizing the defense industrial base. In other words, under Trump's plan, the primary task of the U.S. military in the future is not to "go door-to-door to challenge," but to protect their own home.
Among these controversial contents, in the 2026 fiscal year, the U.S. military will reduce the procurement of F-35s from the original planned 74 to 47, while Boeing's F-15EX procurement quantity will be increased from 98 to 129. Additionally, the "Gold Dome" defense system, which Trump highly values, will receive $25 billion in funding in the 2026 fiscal year.
From a purely military perspective, Trump's plan seems to be leading the U.S. military down a wrong path or even a regression. Reducing the production of fifth-generation aircraft and increasing the production of fourth-generation aircraft is an abstract operation. If it weren't for Trump being the President of the United States, one might really suspect whether he was a spy sent by another major power to the United States. As for the so-called "Gold Dome" defense system, it is merely a product of Trump's imagination after seeing Israel's "Iron Dome" defense system. However, the "Iron Dome" defense system is a unique product of Israel, used to intercept rockets launched by neighboring countries and regions toward Israel. This defense system has a small interception radius, slow speed, and is not capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. It is completely unsuitable for use in the United States, as neither Canada nor Mexico would have the courage to launch rockets toward the United States.
However, since Trump is a politician, his plan should not be viewed solely from a military standpoint, but rather first from a political one. The "1 trillion dollar" defense investment goal is more like a new cake for distribution among the U.S. military-industrial complex. As a president who lost the election after being impeached and then returned to power, Trump's biggest insight during his first term was that he had not integrated into the U.S. establishment. As a political newcomer who rose quickly, even though he became president, he was not accepted by the establishment. The political groups that helped Trump win the election—American rednecks, Zionist forces—can even be said to have some degree of opposition to the U.S. establishment.
Therefore, during his first term, Trump showed great struggle. He found it difficult to implement internal policies, and various interest groups constantly opposed him. Moreover, after being impeached and prosecuted, they took advantage of his situation, making him the most deeply betrayed president before leaving office. Even the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Vice President at the time "betrayed" Trump. It can be said that both the military and political circles were disliked by him.
Thus, after winning the election again, Trump's top priority was how to integrate into the establishment, especially the vast U.S. military-industrial complex. The United States is essentially a company disguised as a country. The President of the United States is nominally the highest leader, but is actually just the CEO managing the country. The real people who have influence over the country are the hidden capital behind the scenes, including the interests of the military-industrial complex. This explains why in the United States, it's okay to criticize the president, but criticizing Jews could lead to arrest. Because the president is just an employee, placed in front for you to criticize. But if you dare to criticize the real big bosses behind the scenes, you can only taste the iron fist of capitalism.
Now, as a working-class Trump, the "1 trillion dollars" he has presented may not matter whether it makes the U.S. military strong again, but what matters is whether it brings enough benefits to himself. For example, reducing the production of F-35s and increasing the production of F-15EX is itself a plan to gain support within the military-industrial complex. The F-35 is the achievement of previous presidents. Even if Trump bought more F-35s during his term, the beneficiaries would not appreciate Trump. On the contrary, if he gives Boeing a big cake at this time, the effect would be different. In Chinese terms, it's the difference between "adding flowers to a beautiful scene" and "giving a warm coat in the snow."
Indeed, even during Trump's first term, he intentionally belittled the F-35 and promoted the F-15. The former Defense Secretary Shanahan, who was promoted by Trump, used to be a Boeing executive. After becoming the Defense Secretary, he publicly criticized the F-35 multiple times and forced the U.S. Air Force to order a batch of F-15EXs through semi-coercion.
Although the U.S. promotes the F-15EX as high and mighty, this project is actually an export-to-domestic conversion. Qatar funded Boeing to develop the F-15QA, and after seeing its performance was quite good, it replaced some equipment with those used by the U.S. military, transforming it into the F-15EX.
Moreover, the U.S. Air Force purchasing the F-15EX is different from the Chinese Air Force purchasing the J-16. The J-16 was specifically designed for the Chinese Air Force, and the Chinese Air Force did not weaken the production of fifth-generation aircraft due to purchasing the J-16. However, the Trump administration forcing the F-15EX on the U.S. Air Force is to "praise one and belittle another." The funds for purchasing the F-15EX are actually diverted from the funds for purchasing the F-35.
Of course, to avoid completely offending Lockheed Martin, Trump chose to draw a big pie. That is, "not liking the single-engine design of the F-35, wanting to develop a dual-engine F-35, named F-55." Since it's about changing the design, it definitely requires money and time. Lockheed Martin can get some profit. Lockheed Martin can even spend money and slack off, and finally announce that the difficulty of developing the dual-engine F-35 is too great, so the project is canceled. After all, there are many weapon projects canceled in the United States in recent years, and F-55 is not a big deal. In this way, Boeing gets money, Lockheed Martin is satisfied, and everyone is happy, except for the U.S. Air Force, which is left with a pile of problematic F-15EXs and can't even cut the production. However, Trump increased the production of the F-15EX.
Looking at the vertical tail fin workmanship of the F-15EX, it's hard to imagine that it's a fighter jet produced in 2025. To put it bluntly, the "Lightning" fighter jet made by India has better craftsmanship than this. Although the F-35 also has many problems, it is a fifth-generation aircraft, and no matter how fallen it is, it is far superior to a fourth-generation aircraft. What's even more ridiculous is that when the U.S. praises the F-15EX, it emphasizes that this fighter jet has a fast flight speed, advanced avionics, and a large payload capacity, capable of carrying five cruise missiles at once. Even if the F-15EX has a fast flight speed, its average speed is not faster than the F-22 with supersonic cruise capability. Even if the avionics are advanced, they are not as advanced as the F-35. Even if the payload is large, it is not larger than that of a strategic bomber. The United States, which has the most strategic bombers in the world, still needs several tactical aircraft with a particularly large payload?
The Trump administration is forcing an outdated, poorly manufactured, and high-fault-rate fighter jet onto the U.S. Air Force, while cutting the procurement of fifth-generation aircraft. This can only be explained by redistributing the cake. If the U.S. Air Force truly needs a fast, large-payload, and advanced fighter jet, it could have asked Lockheed Martin to restart the FB-22 project, which would outperform the F-15EX in all aspects. However, since this cake must be given to Boeing, the Trump administration must choose the F-15EX. Similarly, the sixth-generation fighter F-47 must be handed over to Boeing to develop, regardless of whether Boeing has the ability to do so; the cake must be distributed first.
Similarly, the "Gold Dome" defense system is also the same. Does the United States currently lack an existing missile defense system? This seemingly new "Gold Dome" defense system is actually integrating existing resources to build a reconnaissance and detection network consisting of new early warning satellites, early warning aircraft, and sea-based radar networks, as well as a fire destruction network from space to deep sea. To build this defense system, Trump directly approved 17.5 billion dollars. Whether it can be developed is another matter, but the money must be spent first. Even if the project fails, Trump will not be held accountable. Otherwise, there are many expensive weapons projects that have been canceled in U.S. history. If accountability is pursued, most former presidents would have to face legal consequences. Just recently, the cancellation of the light tank, hypersonic missile, and E-7A early warning aircraft alone is enough to catch a lot of people.
Now, what faces the U.S. Air Force is a pile of mess. Reopening the F-22 production line is hopeless, the F-35 production is also cut, and the Pentagon has forced a bunch of F-15EXs with many faults upon them. The F-15 and F-16s in their hands are also old and worn out. The U.S. tactical aircraft fleet can be described as "old, weak, sick, and disabled." However, Trump doesn't care, because as mentioned at the beginning, the U.S. military's priority in the future is to protect the homeland. If it is to protect the homeland, it must consider the military strength of neighboring countries. The United States has only Canada and Mexico nearby, which are not even considered as "battlefield trash." Fighting them does not require fifth-generation aircraft. Using the F-15EX is already "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut." As for dealing with China, which is about to have sixth-generation aircraft, even continuing to produce F-35s would be of no help. It's better to produce politically beneficial F-15EXs. After all, it's the country's money that's wasted, and the favor is Trump's own. From this point, it can be seen that compared to his first term, Trump now is more like a qualified American politician.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7520980632336400911/
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