吴敏文
By Wu Minwen
近日，拜登政府向国会提交了任上首份财年国防预算案，总额高达7529亿美元。就此次预算的各项内容配比来看,其结构调整方向是减少海外干预及应急军事行动，加大创新研发力度，促进美军转型和战斗力提升。这既是美国近年来从伊拉克、叙利亚、阿富汗等中东地区撤军，聚焦“大国竞争”军事准备的继续，也是未来美国国防战略和军费支出的主要方向。
The Biden administration recently submitted its first fiscal year defense budget to Congress, totaling $752.9 billion. Its structural adjustment is to reduce overseas intervention and emergency military operations, increase innovative research and development efforts, and promote the transformation of the US military and the improvement of its combat effectiveness. This is not only the continuation of the US military preparations focusing on great-power competition as it withdrew from the Middle East regions such as Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan in recent years, but also indicates the main direction of future US defense strategy and military expenditure.
美军淘汰老旧装备以优化装备结构、全力研发高新技术及装备、优化人员结构，显示美军正在利用战争间隙期，推动军队建设转型、战斗力升级，努力扩大优势，确保霸权地位。
Eliminating outdated equipment to optimize the equipment structure, fully developing high-tech and equipment, and optimizing the personnel structure manifest that the US military is taking advantage of the inter-war period to promote the transformation of military construction, upgrade combat effectiveness, strive to expand its advantages and ensure its hegemony.
较大规模的装备退役将使美军水面舰艇部队和美军空军机队的规模均有缩减。但同时也必须看到，即使是美军即将淘汰的装备，同世界其他国家的武器装备相比，仍然具有很大优势。例如，F-22、F-35等第五代战机是美军当前主战机种，其四代机已经进入淘汰程序，而属于二代机的F-4“鬼怪”式战机伊朗至今仍在使用。
Large-scale equipment retirement will reduce the size of the surface fleet and the Air Force aircraft of the US. But compared with that of other countries, even the equipment to be phased out by the US military still has great advantages. For example, fifth-generation fighter jets such as F-22 and F-35 replacing the fourth-generation are currently the main fighter jets of the US military. However, the second-generation F-4 Phantom fighter jets are still used by Iran.
与此同时，新的财年虽然美军武器采购总量和现役部队规模有所下降，但精确弹药采购量却在明显增加。在常规弹药采购量从上个财年的50亿美元锐减至39亿美元的同时，可打击机动目标的空地精准炸弹等精确弹药的采购量却不断上升。
Meanwhile, although the total amount of US military weapons purchases and the size of active forces have declined in the new fiscal year, the purchase of precision ammunition increases significantly. While the purchase of conventional ammunition drops sharply from $5 billion in the last fiscal year to $3.9 billion, the purchase of precision ammunition such as air-to-ground precision-guided munition that can strike maneuvering targets increases continuously.
本次预算中的研究、发展、试验与鉴定经费高达1120亿美元，比2021财年增长5.1%，主要投向包括微电子、高超音速导弹、人工智能、网络空间能力和5G网络等。特别是高超音速武器方面，38亿美元的预算将使得美国陆、海、空三军都将具备高超音速远程精确打击能力。能源部分的277亿美元将用于核投送能力现代化，主要包括战略轰炸机、弹道导弹核潜艇、下一代空射战略巡航导弹和陆基洲际弹道导弹的研发工作。
The budget for research, development, testing, and appraisal is as high as $112 billion, an increase of 5.1 percent over the 2021 fiscal year. The budget is mainly invested in microelectronics, hypersonic missiles, artificial intelligence, cyberspace capabilities, and 5G networks. Especially in hypersonic weapons, the budget of $3.8 billion will enable the US Army, Navy, and Air Force with the capability of hypersonic long-range precision strikes. The $27.7 billion in the energy sector will be used for the modernization of nuclear delivery capabilities, mainly including the research and development of strategic bombers, ballistic missile submarines, next-generation air-launched strategic cruise missiles, and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles.
在人员构成方面，新的财年预算要求将美军现役和预备役部队的总员额从2021财年的215.0375万人减至214.59万人，减少4475人。但是，太空军员额逆势增长，从2021财年的6434人扩大到8400人，增加1966人，这反映出美军对太空军的高度重视，此举也是从整体上优化美军的人员结构。
In terms of personnel composition, the new fiscal year budget requires that the total number of US military active and reserve forces will be reduced from 2,150,375 in fiscal 2021 to 2,145,900, a reduction of 4,475. However, the number of space forces has grown against the trend, expanding from 6,434 in fiscal 2021 to 8,400, an increase of 1,966. This reflects that the US military attaches great importance to the space military, which is also an overall optimization of the US military personnel structure.
拜登政府的第一个财年即在上届政府军费高企的基础上继续增加，有被特朗普政策绑架的因素，也有其主动追随的原因。一方面，已经被特朗普政府炒热了的“印太战略”难以逆转，拜登政府只能萧规曹随；另一方面，美国政府和社会已经深受“中国威胁论”毒害，再加上美国社会内部因种族矛盾、新冠肺炎疫情、经济下滑等造成的社会乱象，使得拜登政府需要继续用中国话题转移矛盾、安抚民心、缓解焦虑。
The Biden administration continued to increase the military budget on the basis of the high military expenditures of the previous administration, which is not only kidnapped by Trump's policies, but also of the Biden administration’s own accord. On the one hand, the Indo-Pacific Strategy hyped by the Trump administration is difficult to reverse, and the Biden administration has to follow. On the other hand, the US government and society have been deeply poisoned by the so-called "China threat theory". Coupled with the social chaos caused by racial conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic downturn in American society, the government needs to use the China topic to divert conflicts, reassure the people and alleviate anxiety.
然而，即使拜登政府努力加大国防投入，仍然受到国会共和党方面的严厉批评。共和党议员、参议院军事委员会高级成员吉姆•英霍夫认为：“拜登政府的国防预算远远不够给我们的军人提供他们需要的资源、设备和训练。”共和党众议员迈克•罗杰斯更是指责拜登“谎报军费”，称“预算申请军费增加不诚实，因为它的涨幅甚至赶不上通胀，相对于3%-5%的通胀，这实际上是一个军费削减的预算案。”
However, the Biden administration’s efforts to increase defense investment didn’t avoid the criticism from the Republicans in Congress. Republican congressman and senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Jim Inhofe said that President Biden's defense budget request is wholly inadequate — it's nowhere near enough to give our service members the resources, equipment and training they need." Republican Congressman Mike Rogers even accused Biden of lying about military spending, saying that the budget for military spending increases is dishonest because its increase does not even keep up with inflation. Compared with the three percent to five percent in inflation, this budget cuts military spending.
由此可见，美国能够提供的国防预算与它恶性膨胀的霸权目标之间的矛盾日益凸显。摆脱这种困境的出路，是放弃冷战思维与对抗思路，走大国合作与互利共赢之路。否则投入再多的资源，即使更大力度减少民生福利增大军费开支，也无法确保美国的绝对优势与安全。
This shows that the contradiction between the defense budget provided by the US and its viciously inflated hegemonic goal has become increasingly prominent. The way out of such a dilemma is to abandon the Cold War mentality and confrontation and take the road of cooperation and mutual benefit among major powers. Otherwise, no matter how much resources are invested, greater efforts to reduce the welfare of the people and increase military spending can not guarantee the absolute advantage and security of the US.
