Washington DC - The Trump administration has ordered senior US military leaders to plan for expansive cuts that could slash the defense budget by 8% annually, or some $290 billion within the next five years, US media reported Wednesday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Pentagon to develop the deep reductions, The Washington Post reported, citing a memo.

The Pentagon's budget for 2025 is some $850 billion. Lawmakers across the political spectrum agree that the massive spending is needed to deter threats, particularly from China and Russia.

The cuts, if implemented in full, would reduce that figure by tens of billions each year to some $560 billion at the end of the five years.

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The report did not give details of where the cuts would be made in the world's biggest military, but an earlier Post report said that junior civilian workers, not uniformed personnel, were being targeted.

The report – which comes after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency reportedly visited the Pentagon last week – was likely to be met with stiff resistance from both the military and Congress.

The stock prices of major US defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumann dropped briefly on the news.

Hegseth's memo said the proposed cuts must be drawn up by February 24 and include 17 categories that Trump wants exempted, including operations at the US border with Mexico and modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense.

It also calls for funding for regional headquarters such as Indo-Pacific Command and Space Command.

But other major centers such as European Command, which has led the way on US strategy throughout the war in Ukraine, and also Africa Command and Central Command – which oversees operations in the Middle East – were absent from the list, the Post reported.

The Defense Department "must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence," Hegseth wrote in the memo, dated Tuesday, according to the Post.

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"Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform, including progress on the audit," he reportedly continued.

President Donald Trump has vowed to slash government spending and end US support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invasion.