Pentagon seeks major 2027 boost for drones, air defenses used in Iran war

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U.S. military officials said the Pentagon is seeking a substantial increase in fiscal 2027 spending on drones, counter-drone systems, and air-defense capabilities used during the war against Iran, including interceptor weapons whose stockpiles have become strained. The request is tied to the administration’s broader effort to boost overall defense spending, Pentagon comptroller officials said during a briefing with reporters.

Officials said the Pentagon’s 2027 budget plan includes a request to more than triple spending on drones and related technology, to more than $74 billion. The same plan would include more than $30 billion for critical munitions, including missile interceptors, which the briefing described as being in low supply after use during the Iran conflict.

Jules Hurst III, the acting undersecretary of defense and the Pentagon’s comptroller, said the request also reflects an overlap in ammunition and “magazine depth.” He told reporters that outside of munitions, there were “aren’t any operational costs in here from Iran,” adding that the blueprint was prepared before the fighting began in the Middle East.

The briefing emphasized the role of air defenses in countering Iranian drone attacks. Officials said the missile interceptors under the most strain include Patriot and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, with Patriot described as built for short-range ballistic missiles and crewed aircraft, and THAAD described as designed for medium-range ballistic missiles. Both systems have also been used, the officials said, to shoot down low-cost Iranian drones.

Pentagon officials also laid out additional procurement targets for counter-drone capabilities. They said the Pentagon’s budget item would aim to purchase long-range Precision Strike Missiles and Mid-Range Capability missile systems used by the U.S. Army, and they said the proposal would allocate nearly $54 billion for military drones and related technology. Officials said it also would provide $21 billion for weapons systems designed to take down enemy drones.

Alongside the drone and counter-drone focus, officials pointed to a broader increase in munitions and other force investments tied to the 2027 budget. As part of that same budget request, they said the Pentagon intends to grow the military by 44,500 troops, or more than 2%, and spend more than $2 billion on operations on the U.S.-Mexico border. Officials also said the Pentagon is planning the largest shipbuilding request since 1962.

A key element of the munitions shift described in the briefing involved the Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile procurement. Officials said the Navy is increasing its purchase of Tomahawks from 55 missiles last year to 785 in this year’s budget, describing the choice as one of the most dramatic jumps featured in the plan. The briefing also noted that experts had raised concerns that the Navy may be using the missile faster than it can replenish its stocks.

Vice Adm. Ben Reynolds, the Navy’s budget chief, did not say whether all 785 Tomahawk missiles would be delivered within the year. He acknowledged that weapons production capacity “is absolutely the challenge” and said the Navy expects Raytheon, the company that makes the missiles, “to invest very heavily now to be able to ramp up production.”

The Air Force, officials said, is pursuing steps to broaden the type of munitions it can produce as it works to address manufacturing difficulty for advanced weapons. Major Gen. Frank Verdugo, the Air Force’s budget chief, said the Air Force wants to invest $600 million to develop “affordable” munitions as part of an effort to move away from “small numbers of exquisite weapons toward a future where we can overwhelm an adversary with sheer volume.”

On the Navy’s shipbuilding plans, officials said the Navy would be buying 18 more warships using more than $65 billion, a 46% increase from the previous year. They also said the Trump-endorsed battleship announced last year was not included in the current budget request, with officials stating instead that the first battleship would be paid for in next year’s budget. Hurst said the military’s spending proposal did not include money for repairing U.S. bases in the Middle East, which he said would be addressed in a future request tied to how the U.S. assesses its posture after the conflict.

Experts who track U.S. defense budgets said the shape of the Pentagon’s request resembles earlier planning priorities more than the new administration’s emphasis areas. Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that if approved by Congress, the budget would provide the largest level of defense funding in inflation-adjusted dollars in U.S. history. Harrison said the spending appears more aligned with former President Joe Biden’s national defense strategy than with President Donald Trump’s.

Harrison said the budget looks focused on sustaining U.S. presence and security commitments around the world and fighting major wars against countries like Russia and China, while the Trump administration’s strategy document, he said, prioritized homeland defense and was largely silent on Russia and did not say much about China.