U.S. military officials on Tuesday provided new details about President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion request for the Department of Defense’s 2027 budget, proposing that the agency spend billions to increase America’s cache of drones, air defense interceptors, fighter jets and ships as the Iran conflict burns through U.S. stockpiles are a pace unseen in recent history.
Yet as the war threatens further escalation, officials declined to provide any specifics about the true cost of the war or what additional funding might be needed to offset it.
“This budget was formulated, honestly, before we went into conflict with Iran,” Jules ‘Jay’ Hurst, performing the duties of Pentagon comptroller, told reporters Tuesday. “We don’t have a final number for what the damage is to our installations overseas… We don’t have a great estimate as to what it would take to reconstitute those facilities.”
Trump’s record-breaking budget request — comprised of funding procured both through the traditional Congressional appropriations process and so-called “budget reconciliation,” which allows for Senate approval with just a simple majority rather than the traditional 60-vote threshold — also includes a new “presidential priorities” category, earmarking hundreds of billions of dollars for the Golden Dome missile defense system, drone dominance, artificial intelligence investments and boosts to the defense industrial base.
DETAILS ON THE BUDGET | Trump seeks $1.5 trillion defense budget, proposes cuts to programs at home
Altogether, the request amounts to a 42% increase from Trump’s 2026 budget, a record-breaking sum that even some Republican allies of the president have voiced concerns over. The request represents “the largest investment in military capabilities in over a generation,” Hurst said, promising it would “drive job creation.”
The budget calls for more than $750 billion in spending on military capability and weapons systems, including close to $75 billion for drones and counter-drone technologies, $66 billion to build 18 Navy warships and 16 support ships, and $102 billion to boost F-35 F-47 fighter jet and B-21 bomber procurement.
Officials are also requesting $75 billion to fund new space launches, GPS satellites and missile warning systems to maintain U.S. “space superiority,” $20 billion for military cyber operations, $71 billion for nuclear enterprise, and $65 billion for ground-based munitions, armored vehicles and helicopters.
In a significant increase over previous year’s requests, the Pentagon is asking for nearly $55 billion for the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), which focuses on accelerating the development, acquisition, and deployment of autonomous systems like drones and AI-enabled weaponry. Launched late last year with just $225 million in its initial budget, the 2027 request amounts to a roughly 24,000 percent year-over-year increase – by far the greatest of any defense spending category.
Outside of weapons systems, the proposed budget includes $2.3 billion in funding for U.S.-Mexico border operations as well as investments to support troop morale, as Pentagon officials say they intend to grow the military by 44,500 troops, or more than two percent.
Among the proposed improvements are $57 billion for barracks and housing fixes and $5.8 billion in military pay raises. The budget also proposes nearly $46 billion in healthcare funding including a major overhaul to the military healthcare system – splitting up defense health programs into two separate accounts, one pertaining to care for military personnel and another for spouses and dependents.
Many Congressional Democrats have already decried Trump’s budget as bloated and unnecessary, especially as the White House pursues additional cuts to domestic spending programs. Some have highlighted that the Department of Defense has never once passed an independent financial audit, though Pentagon officials Tuesday suggested the military was “making progress” on that front.
Beyond the $1.5 trillion in 2027 funding, military officials are still expected to submit an additional, supplemental funding request to help offset the cost of the Iran war – both to replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles and repair damage to bases in the Middle East.
Scripps News previously reported the Pentagon was eyeing a request of at least $200 billion, though officials have yet to formally transmit the request to Congress. Pentagon officials on Tuesday declined to share any further information about the cost of the war or how much they might request in additional funding.
