The Pentagon unveiled Tuesday how it plans to spend $1.5 trillion requested in next year’s defense budget, even as some lawmakers cautioned the massive bill is unlikely to pass a sharply divided Congress.

The nearly 50 percent jump in spending would fund many of President Donald Trump’s new military projects, including tens of billions for the Navy’s future “Golden Fleet” battleship and F-47 Air Force fighter jet, as well as $18 billion for the “Golden Dome” missile defense — a multilayered protection against ballistic missiles that includes space sensors, ground-launched interceptors and radars.

At present, about $350 billion of the total being requested by the Trump administration is being pursued through a legislative process called reconciliation, which allows that spending to be passed by the Senate with a simple 51-vote majority. Last year, the same mechanism was used to boost the Pentagon’s requested $890 billion budget to more than $1 trillion.

The budget also earmarks nearly $75 billion for building up the military’s arsenal of unmanned weapon systems, including unmanned surface vessels, combat and refueling aircraft and one-way attack drones — as well as counter-drone technology. Drones have become ubiquitous on the battlefield in Ukraine and have proven to be a significant threat to U.S. service members, including an Iranian Shahed drone attack in Kuwait that killed six service members in the first days of the conflict.

The budget also allocates billions of dollars to replenish the arsenal of long-range strike and air defense missiles. The military’s stockpiles were already critically low before the Iran war, which has seen a significant expenditure of expensive guided weapons. For some weapons systems, the 2027 request seeks 10 to 15 times the levels of last year’s procurement.

The Navy, for example, is looking to buy 785 Tomahawk missiles next year — and almost 4,000 over the next five years — but only purchased 88 in the past two years combined. The Army is asking for more than $20 billion to purchase more replacement Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) and Patriot missile interceptors, which have seen substantial burn rates in both Ukraine’s defense and in the Middle East.

Though the budget would substantially increase funding for missile replenishment, it is unclear whether firms such as Raytheon, which produces the Tomahawk and Patriot, will be able to meet the numbers sought.

If passed, the $1.5 trillion budget would be the largest Pentagon request as a percentage of GDP since the Cold War. (Source: The Washington Post)

Story Date: April 22, 2026