On Veterans Day, how President-elect Biden's plan for the Pentagon differs from Trump

The Pentagon under President-elect Joe Biden will face the same threats as it has under the Trump administration but will likely approach them in a different way, analysts say.

The Pentagon's massive $700 billion budget is unlikely to take deep cuts given those threats, they say. Clear breaks with Trump's approach to the military, however, are likely on social issues.

Trump's defense strategy, authored in large part by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, views China and Russia as the nation's principal adversaries with lesser threats posed by Iran, North Korea and terrorist groups. That view of aggressors – referred to in some military circles as the "4 + 1" threat matrix – is unlikely to change on Biden's watch.

"In fact, it has its originals in latter Obama thinking," said Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution.

The 4 + 1 threat matrix, in brief:

China is expected to continue to build its military and assert its influence in the Pacific, made plain by its fortification of man-made islands in the South China Sea over the last decade. U.S. forces, in turn, sail warships and fly warplanes in the region to reassure allies and show American commitment to the free flow of trade in the region.

Russia's meddling in elections in the United States and its allies, its development of advanced weapons and support for Bashar Assad in Syria continue to cause friction between the former Cold War enemies and nuclear powers.

Meanwhile, North Korea continues to build its arsenal of ballistic missiles and retain its nuclear capability that could threaten the continental United States.

In January, the U.S. and Iranian military exchanged attacks: An American drone killed Qassem Soleimani, a top general, and Iran responded with a missile attack on a U.S. base in Iraq, wounding 100 troops.