Pentagon touts defense gains while downplaying Russian threat and Middle East setbacks

The Department of Defense submitted a report to Congress on September 22, emphasizing accelerated weapons manufacturing, reduced regulatory hurdles and successful diplomatic pressure on European partners to raise defence budgets. It highlighted a historic budget request covering undersea forces, long-range air and ground fire capabilities, satellite communications, and a $53 billion allocation for rapid munitions development, as well as the inaugural live-fire demonstration of the Golden Dome for America counter-UAS system in partnership with the FAA and FCC.

The briefing, timed before Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, also noted progress in persuading NATO allies, with Poland’s Paweł Ksawery Zalewski stressing the depth of U.S.-Polish military ties. Yet the report sidesteps growing Russian hybrid and kinetic actions, the impact of Middle-East operations such as Operation Epic Fury on U.S. stockpiles, and the Trump administration’s decision to initiate a war on Iran, which analysts say have delayed arsenal replenishment by months or years. Critics from the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Max Bergmann and Otto Svendsen, warned that shrinking U.S. brigade combat teams in Europe could leave the continent vulnerable to further Russian aggression.