Pentagon Budget 2026: US lawmakers push back on aircraft, shipbuilding budget

AM General's JLTV A2 model was scheduled to begin fielding earlier in 2025 before the army announced it wanted to cancel the programme. (Janes/Christopher Petrov)

With a US presidential budget request expected in the near future, congressional appropriators have released fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget priorities that appear to have some notable differences in modernisation accounts.

A draft defence spending bill was released by the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) on 9 June, which is unusual as the presidential budget request typically is released first (in February) and informs Congress' legislative markups. At the time of publication, the presidential request had not been made but an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defence appendix was released on 30 May and included some topline figures.

Compared with the OMB defence appendix, lawmakers' draft bill suggested different approaches to US Navy (USN) shipbuilding, US Air Force (USAF) and US Army aircraft, and joint-service ground vehicles within a total budget of about USD831.5 billion in discretionary spending.

The draft legislation is an early indicator of what lawmakers may support, and the administration could request different funding amounts in the coming weeks. Regardless, defence programmes are ultimately authorised and appropriated by legislators, and these numbers are notional until the HAC and Senate reconcile their respective bills, which must then be enacted by the president.