We Are With You

Army officials are preparing to display rocket launchers and missiles along with more than a hundred military aircraft and vehicles next weekend at the D.C. parade celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary, Axios has learned.

Such a display of military equipment is rare in the United States, and critics of the event have expressed concerns about that imagery as well as the damage that heavy military vehicles could pose to the city's streets.

But officials are eager to showcase U.S. weaponry such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which is used to launch rockets.

The launchers have been used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
There also will be a static display of precision-guided missiles, the officials said, and a flyover by F-22 fighter jets.

About 7,000 military personnel will be involved in the parade, which will run along Constitution Avenue NW. It's projected to cost about $45 million — roughly one-third of that for post-parade street repairs.

The parade is set to begin at 6:30 pm, and will start at 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue NW and end at 15th and Constitution Avenue NW.

President Trump will have a review stand on the Ellipse.

Protestors are taking to the streets and community hubs nationwide on June 14 in what organizers expect will be the largest single-day anti-President Trump rally since the start of the administration.

The widespread movement will run counter to Trump's multimillion dollar military parade in D.C.

"No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance," organizers wrote. "From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we're taking action to reject authoritarianism."

More than 100 pro-democracy advocacy groups are partnering to organize the No Kings events.

Millions of people are estimated to protest in more than 1,500 cities across all 50 states and commonwealths, organizers said.

Trump proposed a military parade on his 79th birthday and the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary.

The Army predicts it will spend $25 to $45 million on the plan, an estimate that doesn't include Secret Service or law enforcement.

"The choice to hold No Kings events in every city but D.C. is a deliberate choice to keep the focus on contrast, and not give the Trump administration an opportunity to stoke and then put the focus on conflict."

President Donald Trump warned that any protests during this weekend’s major military parade in Washington will be met with “very heavy force.”

“If there’s any protester who wants to come out, they will be met with very big force,” the president said Tuesday during an impromptu Oval Office press conference. “I haven’t even heard about a protest, but [there are] people that hate our country.”

“If we didn’t attack this one very strongly, you’d have them all over the country,” Trump said of the Los Angeles protests. “But I can inform the rest of the country that when they do it — if they do it — they’re gonna be met with equal or greater force.”

The comments come as the White House and Washington law enforcement officials are preparing for a military parade on Saturday, which coincides with the Army’s 250th — and Trump’s 79th — birthday.