Proposed Defense Bill Boosts Spending to $900.6 Billion, Backing Missile Defense and Next-Generation Aircraft.
Congressional negotiators have unveiled a compromise National Defense Authorization Act that would authorize $900.6 billion in discretionary defense spending for fiscal year 2026, an $8 billion increase over the Pentagon’s request earlier this summer. The bill, released Sunday night, signals lawmakers’ willingness to fund an expansive slate of modernization programs even as debates continue over force structure, sustainment, and long-term strategy.
The legislation would allocate $162 billion for procurement and $146 billion for research, development, test, and evaluation, alongside $291 billion for operations and maintenance and $234 billion for military personnel and health costs. Much of the spending aligns with President Donald Trump’s top defense priorities, including the ambitious Golden Dome missile defense initiative and major next-generation aircraft programs such as the Air Force’s F-47, the Navy’s F/A-XX, and the B-21 Raider stealth bomber.
Funding would also support collaborative combat aircraft—uncrewed “wingmen” designed to fly alongside manned jets—as well as submarines and surface warships.
Notably absent, however, is language to rename the Department of Defense as the “War Department,” an idea championed by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as a symbolic shift toward greater lethality. Any such change would require separate congressional approval.
In total, the bill authorizes more than $38 billion to develop, procure, or modernize military aircraft. Shipbuilding would receive $26 billion, covering a third Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, one Virginia-class attack submarine, advanced procurement for future undersea platforms, and continued investment in Arleigh Burke–class destroyers, Ford-class aircraft carriers, and auxiliary vessels.
Lawmakers also propose more than $25 billion to replenish U.S. munitions stockpiles, ranging from precision missiles and air-to-air weapons to artillery rounds and guided bombs—an acknowledgement of lessons drawn from recent conflicts and concerns about industrial capacity.
On tactical aircraft, the NDAA would fund the purchase of 47 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters across the services, matching the Pentagon’s request but down sharply from earlier projections. The Air Force, in particular, has shifted emphasis from rapid acquisition to sustainment and upgrades, including the troubled Block 4 modernization effort.
Congress supports that pivot, requiring expanded spare-parts stockpiles and continued oversight by the Government Accountability Office.
The bill also preserves programs the Pentagon sought to cut, including Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail and the A-10 Warthog fleet, underscoring Congress’s continued role as a brake on rapid force restructuring. The message is clear: modernization will move forward, but on Capitol Hill’s terms—and at steadily rising cost.
