WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's

overall U.S. defense and national security budget request

expected on Monday will be just 1% higher than last year,

forcing a slowdown in spending on a wide range of programs and

delaying efforts to rebuild weapons stocks depleted by wars in

Ukraine and Israel.

The $895 billion national security budget request, which

includes funds for homeland security as well as nuclear

weapons-related activities carried out by the Department of

Energy, is the result of a two-year budget deal struck in

mid-2023 that limited the budget to a 1% increase.

Under the cap, the Pentagon's share of the national defense

budget was expected to be $850 billion. The $30 billion

reduction to the Pentagon's funding will curb purchases of the

stealthy F-35 jet made by Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) and air

defenses for Guam, and will delay programs, including slowing

orders for an aircraft carrier made by Huntington Ingalls

Industries ( HII ) and Virginia-class submarines made by

Huntington and General Dynamics ( GD ).

The Pentagon was expected to also trim costs by retiring

older weaponry like ships and planes that are more expensive to

operate.

Last spring, before the cap was put in place, the Pentagon

had estimated in 2025 it would need about $880 billion, and the

total national security budget would be $929 billion. But

because the budget increase is capped at 1% and smaller than

expected, there will be less money to spend.

The cuts are not final given they will likely spark debate

on Capitol Hill that could lead to an increase in the national

defense budget to over $900 billion for fiscal 2025, budget

watchers say.

Defense spending accounts for about half of the U.S.

discretionary budget; the other half goes to transportation,

education, diplomacy and other departments. Entitlements like

Social Security, the national retirement fund, constitute the

nondiscretionary portion of the budget.

The 2024 budget, which includes $886 billion for national

security, still has not passed Congress. The U.S. government is

working under a continuing resolution: a stop-gap measure which

caps spending at 2023 levels until a 2024 budget is passed. The

current continuing resolution is keeping the government open

until later in March.

The Pentagon order for Lockheed Martin's ( LMT ) stealthy fighter

will drop to below 70, down from an expected order of 83, for an

estimated $1.6 billion drop in spending on the jets.