Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget includes $750 billion for ships, jets and Golden Dome

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon on Tuesday unveiled more details of President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal year 2027, by far the largest year-over-year increase in defense spending in the post-World War Two era.

In a new wrinkle, the Pentagon has created a category it is calling “presidential priorities,” covering Golden Dome missile defense, drone dominance, artificial intelligence and data infrastructure, and the defense industrial base, Pentagon officials told reporters.

Last year, Trump asked Congress for a national defense budget of $892.6 billion then added $150 billion through a supplemental budget request, sending the total price tag over $1 trillion for the first time in history.

On shipbuilding, the budget includes over $65 billion to procure 18 warships and 16 support ships made by General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries as part of what the Pentagon is calling the “Golden Fleet” initiative, the largest shipbuilding request since 1962, the officials said.

Trump’s budget proposes $1.5trn defense spending with 10% cut to other federal programmes

The budget ramps up Lockheed Martin F-35 procurement to 85 aircraft per year and includes $102 billion for aircraft procurement and research and development, a 26% increase over the prior year, the officials said.

Development of next-generation systems like the Boeing Co F-47 fighter jet is also a priority, while $6.1 billion is requested for Northrop Grumman’s B-21 bomber.