President Trump - A Year In Defence

It is now a year since Donald Trump won the US election, and became President-elect.

Twelve months on, defence and the US military have continued to be top priorities.

Even before taking office, he promised:

"I'm gonna build a military that's gonna be much stronger than it is right now. It's gonna be so strong, nobody's gonna mess with us."

Less than three months after being sworn in, President Trump ordered an airstrike on the Sharyrat Air Base in Homs, Syria.

Tomahawk missiles were launched from the USS Ross and USS Porter, in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on civilians.

A spate of quick, decisive decision making was continued a week later, with the dropping of the 'Mother Of All Bombs' on a so-called Islamic State (IS) cave complex in Nagarhar, Afghanistan.

The bomb is the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military, and known officially as a GBU-43B massive ordnance air blast weapon (MOAB).

Video: US Department of Defense.

Dozens of IS militants were killed in the strike, including several mid-level commanders, according to Afghan officials.

Since then, tensions have continued to rise between the US President and Russia, while North Korea has been a regular target of Mr Trump's rhetoric.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was referred to as "Rocket Man" on Twitter, in response to the nation's nuclear weapons tests, and even threatened to unleash ‘fire and fury’ on North Korea were they to attack the US territory of Guam.

Kim Jong Un wasn’t phased, responding with some choice words of his own when he referred to Mr Trump as "mentally deranged" on North Korean state TV.

Donald Trump's presidency has also involved US forces personnel.

Dr Karin von Hippel, Director-General, RUSI: "He likes the weapons, he likes the toys"

He announced the number of American troops deployed in Afghanistan would increase, and demanded NATO to do more to match him.

The alliance was the source of some indecision for the president - backtracking on comments he previously made calling NATO "obsolete".

More funding for the military was promised - a new aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford has since been commissioned.

Mr Trump has also tried to ban transgender people from serving in the military, however, this attempt was blocked by a judge in the US Federal Court.

Trump said in a series of tweets that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve in “any capacity” in the US military, citing the “tremendous medical costs and disruption” as his reasoning.

The President has also promised a 24-hour hotline for veterans, but that is still nowhere to be seen so there are big questions over how many promises Donald Trump will deliver at home.