U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter spoke about the Pentagon's planned military spending for 2017 on Tuesday and named Russia and China as some of the biggest “evolving challenges” to the U.S. military, the Voice of America news website reported.
Iran, North Korea and the Islamic State are the three other challenges the U.S. is facing, according to Carter.
The Pentagon's biggest initiative is a $3.4 billion plan to boost the European Reassurance Initiative, which covers military training and gear for the U.S. and its European allies.
“That’ll fund a lot of things — more rotational U.S. forces in Europe, more training and exercises with our allies, more gear, and infrastructure improvements to support it,” Carter said.
The $583 billion defense budget will be presented to the Senate on Feb. 9.