WASHINGTON — As the Pentagon plans to spend just shy of $12 billion in fiscal 2027 for its Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), the top admiral overseeing operations there says the budget request zeroes out his need for a funding wishlist.
When a lawmaker asked Commander of Indo-Pacific Command Adm. Samuel Paparo if he has everything he needs, he responded, “I’m never satisfied with what we have, because the bill at the end is the loss of people, capability, money and time and conflict. But I will say that our… [Section] 1251 report shows no unfunded requirements given the budget submission.”
Each year after the administration submits its annual budget request to Congress, combatant commanders and service chiefs are required under Section 1251 of the National Defense Authorization Act to submit an unfunded priority list to Congress. Given the historic size of the FY27 request, it may mean Paparo hands in a $0 wishlist.
Paparo’s comments come after the Trump administration began detailing plans to spend at least $1.5 trillion on the Department of Defense in FY27 with $1.15 trillion in the base budget request and an additional $350 billion from a forthcoming reconciliation bill. (There could also be a separate supplemental spending bill coming to cover operations in the Middle East.)
Newly released budget documents now show that from those pots, the department is seeking $11.7 billion to fund the PDI — $11.3 billion from the base budget and an additional $346.7 million in reconciliation.
That plan is broken up across the services, and the document lists six primary categories:
- Modernized and Strengthened Presence: $2.9 billion;
- Improved Logistics, Maintenance Capabilities, and Prepositioning of Equipment, Munitions, Fuel, and Material: $502 million;
- Exercises, Training, Experimentation and Innovation: $4.4 billion;
- Infrastructure Improvements: $3 billion;
- Building the Defense and Security Capabilities, Capacity, and Cooperation of Allies and Partners: $564 million; and
- Improve Capabilities Available to INDOPACOM: $340 million
That spend plan is nearly $1.7 billion more than the PDI received for FY26. However, in the coming years, the administration projects a gradual decline with a possible $10.7 billion ask in FY28 before it dips down to $8 billion in FY31.
During today’s House Armed Services Committee hearing on the FY27 budget request, Paparo, along with Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs John Noh, and United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command for South Korea Gen. Xavier Brunson sidestepped several questions on how operations in the Middle East is impacting their region’s readiness.
At one point, Rep. Patrick Ryan, D-NY, pressed the officials on a Center for Strategic and International Studies report showing a massive spend rate of critical munitions in operations against Iran.
“I, along with many others, are worried about: one, the position it puts us in … and your folks INDOPACOM [and] two, what message it sends to China … and ultimately, what it means for our ability to deter and, if necessary, defeat action,” Ryan asked.
While Noh cited Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s assertion that the department has “sufficient munitions,” Paparo and Bruson said the push to accelerate production will be key.
“The way ahead is, is tripling, quadrupling, the production rate of these munitions, and then, number two, finding suitable, innovative, non-traditional substitutes for them, which, in some cases, with the right innovation, can exceed that capability,” Paparo said.
The FY27 budget does provide a massive hike to a slew of critical munitions procurement coffers, with Jules “Jay” Hurst, who is performing the duties of the Pentagon comptroller, confirming that the plan is to use those funds to go after multi-year buys.
