Pentagon Budget 2026: US Navy looks to bolster weapons production

Guided-missile destroyers like the USS Laboon shown here operating in the Red Sea rely on Standard Missiles for naval combat and defence. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

The US Navy (USN)-proposed fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget plan includes USD7.9 billion, which consists of a base-amount request of USD5.6 billion and USD2.3 billion in reconciliation funding, according to USN budget documents accessed by Janes on 26 June.

“This level of funding represents a continued investment in weapons procurement,” the USN budget documents noted. “The focus is to continue to build up and replace expended critical munitions inventories while increasing line capacity.”

The USN documents also said, “By partnering with industry and increasing sources with USD296 million in weapon's industrial base funding to increase production and strengthen secondary and tertiary suppliers for critical components continuity, we are able to increase capacity of critical munitions allowing the DON [Department of the Navy] to meet inventory requirements on a more efficient timeline.”

For more information about congressional concern over weapons inventories, please see Pentagon Budget 2026: US senators and naval leaders note need for ship-work and munition-production improvements .

The USN FY 2026 request includes the procurement of 57 new Tactical Tomahawk (TACTOM RGM/UGM-109E) missiles and to “recertify/upgrade in-service rounds”, the USN said, noting the TACTOM utility as a “type of long-range, precision cruise missile used by the US Navy and now being incorporated by the [US] Marine Corps (USMC) for land-attack and anti-ship capabilities”.

TACTOM is capable of in-flight retargeting, the ability to loiter over the battlefield, in-flight missile health and status monitoring, and battle damage indication, USN budget documents said.