The defense of Guam against the missile threat from China figures prominently in the defense department's Fiscal Year 2024 budget request, just released by the Biden administration.

The spending plan includes the largest-ever request for "Pacific deterrence," and highlights the critical importance of Guam and the Marianas to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific.

In his introduction, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin makes it clear that China is the "pacing challenge" and that the budget is needed to sustain the U.S. military advantage over the People's Republic of China.

Very early in his statement, he also outlined the need to invest in advanced capabilities, new operational concepts, and more resilient force posture in the Indo-Pacific, and specifically mentions "groundbreaking posture initiatives in Guam and the Mariana islands."

Overall, the Department of Defense's FY 2024 budget request of $842 billion is an increase of $26 billion over FY 2023 and $100 billion more than Fiscal Year 2022.

Austin's statement also identifies $1.5 billion for Guam's missile defense system, which was confirmed in a separate press briefing by the Missile Defense Agency.

Michelle Atkinson is the MDA's director of operations.

"I spoke earlier of the hypersonic threat, this budget request continues development of a regional hypersonic glide phase defense capability to complement the deployed aegis sea-based terminal capabilities," she said. "In conjunction with INDOPACOM, the Army and the Navy, we are continuing development efforts to improve the defense of Guam against the full spectrum of advanced missile threats."

The MDA wants to spend more than $800 million to develop and begin constructing the missile defense architecture for Guam, which Atkinson said includes development of radar for 360-degree coverage, and precision missile tracking and hit assessment.

The agency is also seeking $220 million for further development of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, or THAAD which provides ballistic missile defense for Guam and South Korea.