WASHINGTON — On Friday the Trump administration plans to propose a $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2027, broken into a $1.15 trillion base budget request and an additional $350 billion from a forthcoming reconciliation bill, according to a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget.
It will mark the first time the base budget defense spending has hit the $1 trillion mark, and pushes the FY27 total to a historic high with the addition of the reconciliation spending, which will need to be passed by Congress this year.
For modernization programs, the implications are massive, with the base budget and reconciliation including about $760 billion to buy and develop weapons, including large increases for shipbuilding, Golden Dome-related programs and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
Inside Defense first reported the budget details, which were confirmed by the OMB spokesperson today ahead of a planned release of the “skinny budget” on Friday. The Defense Department is expected to formally roll out its detailed budget on April 21.
In the Pentagon’s base budget, the administration intends to request about $260 billion for procurement and about $220 billion for research, development, testing and evaluation accounts. If passed, the reconciliation bill would add around $280 billion to weapons accounts on top of that sum.
The Golden Dome missile shield would get $17.5 billion in FY27. However, that would be reliant on passing reconciliation, with only $400 million for the program included the base budget request. That sum would be a slight step down from the $25 billion approved for Golden Dome in the first reconciliation bill, which the administration plans to spend in FY26.
For shipbuilding, the base budget and reconciliation bill will include $65.8 billion for 18 battle force ships and 16 non-battle force ships.
The request also funds 85 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, which includes a total of 38 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variants, 10 F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing jets, and 37 F-35C carrier variant planes. Only 32 are slated to be paid for through the base budget, with the remaining 53 covered by reconciliation funds.
Like the budget itself, the White House does not have the final say on the reconciliation bill, and Congress will have the ability to shape the defense funding in that legislation to meet lawmakers’ priorities.
