At the end of June, the US Department of Defense made an official budget request for fiscal year 2026, worth of $961.6 billion.
“This historic defense budget prioritizes strengthening homeland security, deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, revitalizing the US defense industrial base, and maintaining our commitment to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” a senior defense official briefed reporters.
There and then, the United States has openly designated China as its adversary, which requires a change in procurement policy, research, as well as an update of the logistical base. There is good news for Russia – the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative program, which for years allowed Ukraine to receive military equipment and ammunition directly from the US defense industry, is ceasing to exist. Officially, this is due to the fact that foreign aid programs are no longer a priority for the current administration. Although the cuts also affected other areas – a large portion of those cuts — $13.8 billion — comes from reducing the civilian workforce.
Manipulation of special-purpose funds is also quite possible to make room for the emerging national security needs.
The Pentagon has already moved to gut $1 billion from the Army’s budget to maintain its facilities, including living quarters for junior troops that for years have suffered from dilapidated conditions. The raiding of Army facilities money sparked bipartisan ire on Capitol Hill forcing the military to make concessions.
Then again, there has been a shifting of large amounts from one sector to another before. For example, in his previous term, Trump diverted the same amount from an account that covers bonuses and other pay for troops to fund the border wall against Mexico. Similar expenses on the border missions will have to be spent next year, as it will be necessary to ensure the deployment of a large number of military personnel (the estimated cost of the LA mission, which at the moment includes 700 Marines and 4,000 federalized National Guard troops is $134 million).
The budget is not final, as the Trump administration has been pushing the heightened national security investment to a historic “$1 trillion,” but to get to that figure it is banking on lawmakers passing a reconciliation bill with $150 billion for national security, of which the Pentagon wants to use $113.3 billion in FY26. It is not known whether the Department of Defense has a backup plan in case Congress ultimately fails to pass this bill.
Beyond that, however, the Defense Department has yet to put together a five-year spending plan, as is customary, leaving open questions about the longer-term funding plan for key initiatives like Golden Dome or shipbuilding.
For example, the Navy’s fiscal 2026 shipbuilding budget request includes just three battle force ships in the base budget, while relying on Congress’s anticipated reconciliation bill to fund an additional 16 vessels.
The documents published indicate the service’s base budget request seeks one Columbia-class submarine, one Virginia-class submarine and one ocean surveillance ship. Meanwhile, the expected ships through reconciliation include one Virginia-class submarine, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, one America-class amphib, one San Antonio-class amphib, nine Medium Landing Ships and two fleet replenishment oilers.
The Pentagon and services had not published comprehensive budget justification documents and spending overviews. But based on available documents, the Pentagon plans to use its money for the following:
- Military personal: $184 billion ($689 million from reconciliation bill and $183 billion from the base request)
- Procurement: $205 billion ($52 billion from reconciliation bill and $153 billion in base request)
- Research and development: $1.2 billion (all in the base request)
- Operation and maintenance: $107 billion ($9 billion from reconciliation bill and $97 billion in the base request)
- Military construction: $19.8 billion ($842 million from the reconciliation bill and $18.9 billion in the base request).
As for the breakdown amongst the services, the request includes $197.4 billion for the Army, $292.2 billion for the Navy, $301.1 billion for the Air Force and Space Force, and $170.9 for defense-wide activities.
Among the biggest muscle movements for weapons accounts is a smaller F-35 buy — with the Air Force cutting its F-35A procurement to 24 jets for a total DoD-wide purchase oThe senior defense official also said that the decision to continue with the Navy’s next-generation strike fighter program, F/A-XX, is pending with the administration, but there is $74 million requested to complete the design work.f 47 Joint Strike Fighters this year.
It is obvious that the powerful lobby of the US military–industrial complex, including congressmen, is actively promoting this project.
In June, Boeing Defense and Space CEO Steve Parker very publicly pushed back on the idea that the U.S. industrial base was not capable of working on the F-47 and F/A-XX at the same time. Northrop Grumman has also been in the running for F/A-XX, something the company pressed ahead with after dropping out of the Air Force’s NGAD combat jet competition in 2023. A report earlier in June from Bloomberg News, based on budget documents the outlet had seen, said that the Pentagon was instead moving to redirect $500 million in funding from F/A-XX to F-47, and called attention to the industrial base concerns.
“At this time, I would say pretty much everything is under consideration to get the TACAIR [tactical aviation] capability that our warfighters need as quickly as possible,” the senior U.S. defense official added in response to a question about whether a navalized variant of the F-47 might now be on the table. “That’s really what we’re looking at the most, is the schedule of all these programs.”
Meanwhile, the budget request confirmed many of the Army’s previously announced string of program cancellations including the M10 Booker, Robotic Combat Vehicle, Improved Turbine Engine Program, as well as the cessation of Joint Light Tactical Vehicle procurement and Grey Eagle drone.
When it comes to autonomy work across the services, the department is planning to invest $13.4 billion next year. That pot is broken up with $9.4 directed to unmanned aerial systems, $210 million for autonomous ground vehicles, $1.7 billion for autonomous on the water capabilities, $734 million for underwater capabilities and $1.2 billion for “enabling capabilities” like autonomy software.
In such priorities, with an emphasis on UAVs, the Ukrainian experience is obvious, which the US military wants to use effectively to reorganize its types of troops and potential conflict with China.
Finally, as for the future approval of a trillion dollars in the US Congress, it is likely that this will be possible. Because the military-industrial lobby has its representatives among both Democrats and Republicans. Earlier, the Democrats refused to support pro-Ukrainian projects because they did not want to annoy the Republicans, saying they would look for funds for Kiev in other areas. In addition, Democrats and Republicans have a consensus on the “Chinese threat,” which gives the US military reason for optimism. But even if a USD trillion cannot be received for the FY 2026, then, firstly, the missing amount is relatively small, although it may be significant for certain areas, and secondly, there is a high probability that they will receive it next year.
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