$1.5 Trillion Budget Request Prioritizes Service Members, Modernization

View Online $1.5 Trillion Budget Request Prioritizes Service Members, Modernization April 21, 2026 |  By C. Todd Lopez The president's fiscal year 2027 budget request was made public today during a briefing at the Pentagon, with $1.5 trillion — the largest request in history — aimed at, among other things, supporting service members and their families, securing the American homeland, modernizing equipment, rebuilding the defense industrial base and providing a raise to service members.  "We are delivering on President [Donald J.] Trump's commitment to expand American military dominance for decades to come," said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. "Previous administrations underinvested in our military while our enemies grew stronger and more dangerous, so we are now changing the game. This budget builds this arsenal without compromising readiness that will ensure we remain the world's premier fighting force, we protect the homeland, and we create peace through strength now and into the future."  The FY27 budget request represents a sizable increase over last year's budget, said Jules W. Hurst III, performing the duties of the War Department comptroller.  "This is a generational investment in the United States military— the arsenal of freedom," Hurst said. "This 42% increase will supercharge our defense industrial base by expanding production of major weapon systems, while strengthening supply chains and supporting tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. It secures our homeland and military advantage through investments in the Golden Dome missile defense system, drone dominance and space superiority."  This year's budget request puts a huge focus on buying and investing in actual hardware, Hurst said. About 52% of the total budget request is aimed at buying munitions, planes, tanks and ships.  "The FY27 defense budget will be the largest investment in military capabilities in over a generation," Hurst said. "This budget allocates over $750 billion ... just in capability development and procuring weapons systems."  The department intends to pay for drone warfare capabilities, space capabilities and investments in shipbuilding. Hurst noted that it also encompasses an ample investment in facility sustainment, restoration and modernization — including where service members live.  "[We're] ensuring service members work and live in safe and high-quality conditions," he said. "This budget request was specifically formulated to remediate all barracks and government-owned buildings and housing that [are] substandard. We will also make a significant investment [in] remediating facilities across the department's inventory that do not meet our quality standards."  The defense industrial base is the collection of both large and small private-sector companies in the United States that build America's warfighting gear— guns, bullets, ships and airplanes. Ensuring those companies are strong and committed to building America's defense is something the FY27 budget is aimed at accomplishing.  "Large defense firms are critical to our national security, but they rely on tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses to provide the parts, components and materials to larger firms," Hurst said. "For example, the F-35 program alone has over 2,100 suppliers, and more than half of these are American small businesses."  The viability of those businesses is critical to the strength of the U.S. military — without the defense industrial base, the U.S. military can't get the materiel it needs to defend the nation.  "This budget invests over $100 billion to strengthen that ecosystem," Hurst said.  In the FY27 budget, the department also looks to expand multiyear contracts up to seven years for critical munitions, to provide stability and to incentivize long-term investment across the supply chain. Hurst said multiyear contracts provide smaller companies with the confidence needed to expand and invest in their own capacity.  "When the Department of War oscillates between buying large numbers and small numbers of a weapon system, large defense companies can tolerate that fluctuation, but the small and medium-sized defense suppliers who aid them cannot," Hurst said. "In every instance where we know we're going to continue to buy a system over a prolonged period of time, we're going to request multiyear authorities from Congress."  For the nuclear enterprise, Space Force Lt. Gen. Steven P. Whitney, War Department joint staff director of force structure, resources and assessment, said the budget request includes $71.4 billion to sustain and modernize all three legs of the nuclear triad — $16.2 billion for the Columbia-class submarine, $6.1 billion for the B-21 Raider bomber, $4.6 billion for the Sentinel  intercontinental ballistic missile program and $1.5 billion for the long-range standoff weapon.  "This budget request continues a generational modernization effort across all three legs of the triad to ensure the continued effectiveness of our nuclear deterrent," Whitney said. "In addition to these investments in our nuclear deterrence weapons and platforms, the request also includes $20.2 billion of investments in nuclear command control and communications, or NC3 architecture — ensuring timely strategic missile warning reporting and strengthening presidential decision-making in command of our nuclear forces."  On the sea, Whitney said this budget provides $65.8 billion for 18 battle force ships and 16 support ships as part of the "Golden Fleet" initiative. Another $8.7 billion is aimed at investments in maritime industrial base and shipyard infrastructure, including seven private, four public and multiple "Tier 2" private shipyards.  On the land, the FY27 budget proposal requests funding to expand production capacity and build stockpiles for Patriot, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, precision strike missiles and midrange capability weapons. In the air, the budget includes funding to ramp-up production of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft to 85 — up from 47 in FY26 — and increased production of the KC-46A Pegasus tanker.  Whitney noted that support to the joint force is also at the top of this budget, with a focus on housing for service members.  "We're addressing the poor and failing structures in our facilities and bases," he said. "This is part of a requested $57 billion investment in facility sustainment, restoration and modernization. A major portion of this commitment ... is ensuring our service members have clean, comfortable and safe housing."  The general said funds have been requested to address critical updates identified by the Barracks Task Force.  "Investments in this budget will fix all substandard barracks and eliminate barracks that have been deemed poor or failing," he said. "There is an additional investment to improve family housing, with a major portion of this investment targeted at our government-owned housing facilities. Our joint force and families deserve quality housing. We are committed to ensuring they have access to safe, well-maintained and dignified living quarters and, ultimately, an improved quality of life."  The budget also requests a pay increase for service members. Specifically, it requested a 7% increase for military personnel in the grade of E-5 and below, a 6% increase for personnel in the grades of E-6 to O-3 and a 5% increase for members in the grade of O-4 and above.  "With this funding request, we directly invest in our people, recognizing and respecting our warfighters, their families and the daily sacrifices they both make for our nation," Whitney said.

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