Everyone has heard about the power and invincibility of the American armed forces. The US Department of Defense is responsible for ensuring the political and territorial security of the country, as well as coordinating political decisions and managing the work of all departments of the United States government.
History of education
A year before the end of World War II, the US Congress proposed the creation of a body to coordinate the actions of the armed forces. A year later, at a meeting of the United States Navy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the development of a plan to create such a structure began. Throughout the second quarter of the 20th century, until 1949, amendments were made to the implementation of the project for the formation of a unified body of the US Department of Defense. Many opposed, arguing their protest with the fact that it is too dangerous to concentrate the commanders of various military forces in one ministry. Initially, it was called the National War Office, but was later renamed the US Department of Defense.
This department is called DOD, which stands for Defense of Department. In Soba, it combines land, aviation, landing and naval forces. The Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency are also subordinate to the ministry.
DOD's headquarters are located in the Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia. It is near Washington, on the right side of the Potomac River.
Pentagon system
To date, the head of the Pentagon is General James Mattis, nicknamed "Raging Dog". It was he who was nominated for this post by Donald Trump.
Currently, the Pentagon system contains the following components:
- central office of the Minister of Defense;
- three ministries of military forces;
- committee of chiefs of staff and its joint headquarters;
- 18 departments of central subordination;
- 9 services and institutions;
- 9 United States Armed Forces.
In addition, in the system of the Ministry of Defense there are all organizations operating under the guidance or full control of the above bodies of the military command.
Budget
For 2011, the Department of Defense budget was about $ 708 billion, which is about 4.7% of US GDP. According to recent reports, the financial activities of the US military have serious violations.
For 2016, the base budget of the US Department of Defense amounted to 534 billion. According to the adopted document, about 161 billion will be spent on the needs of the Navy, and 153 billion will be allocated for the Air Force. For the ground forces - 126.5 billion. All these figures on average exceed the values for 2015 by 10 billion.
178 billion dollars, which is 20 billion less than last year, spent on various research and supply of the army. Another part of the budget, which is called the secret, is not published.
Since there are currently military theaters with a US presence, a kind of “appendage” of $ 51 billion was envisaged (for 2016). Since 2001, the lowest level of such an "appendage" was recorded. All this money went to counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan. With the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, the United States reduced military spending. But, despite this, most of the funds spent on foreign operations are written off precisely to Afghanistan.
US Department of Defense Achievements
The development of military aircraft that will be able to transport drones, launch and take them back on board, went into the second stage. The Department of Defense has signed contracts with two well-known American aircraft manufacturing companies . It was decided to call such aircraft "celestial aircraft carriers."
At the first stage, design was developed and aircraft capabilities were designed. At the second stage, it is planned to test the models. The third proposes to put into service two models of the latest development.
According to the idea, using this type of weapon, the US Air Force will be able to effectively combat enemy air defense, destroy ground targets and conduct reconnaissance.
Not so long ago, the US Department of Defense recognized that the country's aerospace industry is heavily influenced by Russia. The fact is that without the purchase of Russian RD-180 rocket engines, as the US authorities officially stated, military satellites will simply have nothing to launch into orbit.
Senator John McClain, an ardent supporter of sanctions against Russia, demands to abandon Russian-made rocket engines so that the country's national security is not dependent on Russia. Supporters of McClain are of the opinion that the supply of Russian engines is an obstacle to competition among American firms. At the same time, Senator Richard Shelby in 2009 amended the document, which said about the "independence of choice of countries producing rocket engines used on media." This was the reason that the Pentagon invested in the creation of American rocket engines.
At the moment, there is no accurate data on progress in rocket science in the United States.
Military development
In 2008, the United States succeeded in almost impossible. With the help of the US Department of Defense and military technology, the USA-193 orbiting spy satellite was shot down.
To understand how difficult this is, we give an example. To bring down a satellite in Earth orbit is equivalent to hitting one tennis ball into another, which flies at a speed of 7.3 km / s and constantly changes its trajectory. Such a point strike requires a warhead capable of coordinating the flight path in a fraction of a second.
About 200 specialists worked on this operation. In total, 3 modified SM-3 missiles were prepared. If the first attempt failed, the possibility of launching the next two warheads remained. One such rocket cost $ 10 million.
Recently, a similar technology has been demonstrated by China.
Secret materials
There is information that the US Department of Defense is engaged in secret developments. The complex of "electronic and cybernetic systems using artificial intelligence" is called in this context. This was stated by the deputy head of the Pentagon, Robert Wark. While Russians and Chinese are improving nuclear weapons, the Americans are talking about the benefits of a “non-nuclear” war.
Back in 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced the launch of a long-term program called the Strategic Defense Initiative. This program implied the deployment of defense and strike complexes in space, which would deprive potential enemies of the possibility of delivering strikes throughout North America.
It was stated that military developers are engaged in certain military space lasers, emitters of neutral particles and orbital mirrors. At the moment, there is not a single technical model that would implement the planned project. Like there is no US Department of Defense authority responsible for these projects.