WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� U.S. military officials on Tuesday called for spending tens of billions of dollars in the next budget year on drones, and fighter jets that have been a key part of fighting the Iran war.
As part of President Donald Trump鈥檚 in the 2027 budget, the Pentagon wants to triple spending on drones and related technology to more than $74 billion and invest over $30 billion into more critical munitions, including missile interceptors, whose stockpiles have become .
Military officials said the spending blueprint was developed before the conflict in the Middle East. They also did not discuss how much they will request in , which would be on top of what the White House is seeking to .
鈥淭he overlap, you鈥檒l see, is the request for munitions, which is something we always need,” Jules Hurst III, acting undersecretary of defense and the Pentagon’s comptroller, told reporters at a briefing. “We always need to increase our magazine depth. But outside of that, there aren鈥檛 any operational costs in here from Iran.鈥�
Heavy investment in drone warfare
The missile interceptors whose numbers are under the most strain are the Patriot and the air defense systems. The THAAD system is designed for defeating medium-range ballistic missiles, while the Patriot system is for taking down short-range ballistic missiles and crewed aircraft. However, they both also were used to shoot down cheap Iranian drones.
The $30 billion budget item also would aim to purchase long-range Precision Strike Missiles and Mid-Range Capability missile systems used by the U.S. Army.
The budget proposal would allocate nearly $54 billion for military drones and related technology, as well as $21 billion for weapons systems designed to take down enemy drones.
Drones and other unmanned vehicles have emerged as a key weapon in the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and top Pentagon officials say the U.S. must significantly increase its funding of both drones and counter-drone systems.
鈥淒rone warfare is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield,鈥� Hurst said. 鈥淭his budget is the largest investment in drone warfare and counter drone technology in U.S. history.鈥�
As part of the 2027 budget, the Pentagon also intends to grow the military by 44,500 troops, or more than 2%, spend more than $2 billion on operations on the U.S.-Mexico border and make the largest shipbuilding request since 1962.
Dramatic increase in the Navy’s Tomahawk missiles
While officials said the budget was developed before operations began in Iran, it featured major jumps in many of the missiles that have been used in the conflict. One of the most dramatic increases was in the choice for the Navy to increase of its purchase of the Tomahawk cruise missile from 55 missiles last year to 785 in this year鈥檚 budget.
The long-range cruise missile was heavily used in Iran and led to concerns from experts that the military was using it much faster than it could replenish its stocks.
Vice Adm. Ben Reynolds, the Navy鈥檚 budget boss, wouldn鈥檛 say if he expected all 785 Tomahawk missiles to be delivered within the year. He acknowledged that weapons production capacity 鈥渋s absolutely the challenge鈥� and, in the case of the Tomahawk, he said the Navy expects Raytheon 鈥� the company that makes it 鈥� 鈥渢o invest very heavily now to be able to ramp up production.鈥�
The services also are addressing the difficulty in producing the advanced munitions favored by the military by slowly shifting toward more basic weapons.
Major Gen. Frank Verdugo, the Air Force鈥檚 budget chief, said the Air Force wants to invest $600 million to develop 鈥渁ffordable鈥� munitions as part of an effort to move away from 鈥渟mall numbers of exquisite weapons toward a future where we can overwhelm an adversary with sheer volume.鈥�
Trump-endorsed battleship is missing
The Navy said it would be buying 18 more warships using more than $65 billion 鈥� a 46% increase from the previous year.
However, the Trump-endorsed battleship that was announced to great fanfare last year is not in this year鈥檚 budget, according to the briefing. Instead, the Navy is planning to pay for the first battleship in next year鈥檚 budget.
The military’s spending proposal also lacked money for repairing U.S. bases in the Middle East, which Hurst said would be part of a future request.
鈥淧art of it is we would assess what our posture should be in the Middle East,鈥� Hurst told reporters. 鈥淲e have to make sure we understand what we want to construct in the future. We might change how we build bases in the Middle East based on this conflict.鈥�
Budget echoes Biden-era priorities, expert says
If approved by Congress, the budget would provide the largest level of defense funding in inflation-adjusted dollars in U.S. history, said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
Harrison said the spending appears more aligned with former President Joe Biden鈥檚 national defense strategy than Trump鈥檚.
鈥淭his is a budget that is trying to build a force capable of sustaining U.S. presence and security commitments around the world 鈥� a force that鈥檚 capable of fighting major wars against countries like Russia and China,鈥� Harrison said.
The Trump administration鈥檚 strategy document put the priority on homeland defense and was largely silent on Russia and did not say much about China, Harrison said.
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