By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Twin celebrations of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s birthday and the Army’s 250th anniversary will include as many as 25 tanks rolling through Washington in a celebration that will cost $25 million to $45 million, U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
U.S. military service branches take pride in their history and anniversary celebrations, called birthdays, across the United States and on bases around the world.
The U.S. Army had long been planning to move troops and equipment to the National Mall in Washington on June 14 as part of its anniversary celebration. Plans now include a parade since that coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.
Two U.S. officials told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, the eventual cost could be as high as $45 million. One of them said the cost included several million dollars more than it would have without a parade.
The official added that the Army is planning on sending about two dozen M1 Abrams tanks for the celebration.
The officials’ latest estimates exclude costs the city of Washington would have to bear, like trash cleanup or road repairs for damage from the heavy tanks.
Reuters has previously reported that the plan included more than 6,500 troops, about 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft moving to Washington.
White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley said Trump was planning a historic celebration.
“As one of the first events of the year-long celebration of our 250th anniversary, this commemorative parade will be a fitting tribute to the service, sacrifice, and selflessness of the brave men and women who have worn the uniform,” Haley said.
Critics have called a parade an authoritarian display of power that is wasteful, especially as Trump slashes costs throughout the federal government.
During his first administration, Trump ordered the Pentagon to look into a display of military might after a 2017 trip to France where he and French President Emmanuel Macron reviewed that country’s defense forces marching down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris.
That effort would have cost $90 million.
Trump ultimately settled for an exhibition, instead of a parade, of tanks and other armored vehicles during a July Fourth celebration in 2019 in Washington.
Military parades in the United States are rare. Other countries usually stage them to celebrate victories in battle or showcase military might.
In 1991, tanks and thousands of troops paraded through Washington to celebrate the ousting of President Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces from Kuwait in the Gulf War.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Richard Chang)
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