WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden is expected to ask Congress for a U.S. defense budget exceeding $770 billion for the next fiscal year as the Pentagon seeks to modernize the military, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations, eclipsing the record budget requests by former President Donald Trump.

Ongoing budget talks between Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have coalesced around a proposed defence request of higher than $770 billion for the 2023 fiscal year starting Oct. 1, the sources said. Negotiations are ongoing within the administration and the final amount could change before the budget request is made in the coming months, the sources added.

Two of the sources said that about $773 billion was going to be available for the Department of Defence and other needs would go on top of that, potentially pushing a total above $800 billion.

The Pentagon referred queries to the OMB, which declined to comment.

The national defence “top line” budget includes the Pentagon’s budget for spending on salaries, tanks and stealthy F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin Corp as well as funds for the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons programs and defence-related activities at other agencies.

The White House last week responded to the Pentagon’s proposed budget request with a figure that was more or less on par with Austin’s request, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Among the top priorities for this budget are shipbuilding, developing capabilities in space, missile warning and modernizing the nuclear “triad” of ballistic missile submarines, bombers and land-based missiles, one of the sources said.