President Donald Trump just gave the U.S. military a boost Monday when he signed the latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), increasing the national defense budget, troop numbers, and military wages.
According to the White House, the bill sets a $717 billion budget for national defense and "helps develop a more lethal and resilient force, and grows the size of our forces by authorizing an increase of 15,600 troops across the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.”
The exact troop increases are 487,500 in the Army; 335,400 in the Navy; 186,100 in the Marine Corps; and 329,100 in the Air Force.
The bill also creates a new military hardware procurement packages that allocates $7.6 billion to 77 F-35 fighter jets and $24.1 billion for the construction of 12 new battle force ships.
An additional $500 million will be put into the joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense systems that helps counter terrorism.
The military will also receive a 2.6 percent pay raise, the largest percentage-based pay raise the military's gotten in nine years. When adjusted for government-predicted inflation, however, the raise comes in at roughly 0.4 percent - the largest increase since 2015.