The military parade proposed by President Donald Trump will cost $12 million, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday.
Pentagon officials said the figure was a planning estimate, which could easily change once the final plan is approved.
The $12 million cost is nearly the same as the budget for the now-canceled military exercises with South Korea.Trump called off the annual exercise after meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, citing their cost and calling them "very provocative" to Pyongyang.
The parade will take place in Washington on Nov. 10. According to a Pantagon memo released in March, the parade will travel from the White House to the U.S. Capitol.
The memo said the focus of the parade will be on the “contributions of U.S. military veterans throughout history,” starting from the American Revolutionary War. The parade will include wheeled vehicles but no tanks. Some troops will wear period uniforms and the airplanes used at the end of the parade will also include “older aircraft, as available.”
The inspiration to hold a military parade came from the president’s trip to France last year when he and first lady Melania Trump watched Bastille Day events in Paris on July 14, as the guests of French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.
Military parades in the United States are generally rare. In 1991, U.S. troops paraded through Washington to celebrate the ousting of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces from Kuwait in the Gulf War.