U.S. defense spending and military aid costs are adding up.
President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion U.S. military aid package in April allocating funding to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region. On top of that, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 authorized military spending of a record $886 billion.
A big chunk of that money will go to bolster the American defense industry.
“People think we’re sending a big check to Ukraine,” Gregory Hayes, CEO of RTX, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The fact is what most of that money will do [is] support American defense industries here in the U.S.”
The five largest U.S. defense companies — Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics, Boeing and Northrop Grumman — had Department of Defense contracts totaling more than $118 billion in fiscal year 2022, according to the Congressional Research Service.
So where does the U.S. send military aid and personnel and how does defense spending affect the world at large?