US military officials on Tuesday called for spending tens of billions of dollars in the next budget year on drones, air defence systems and fighter jets that have been a key part of fighting the Iran war.
As part of President Donald Trump’s push to boost defense spending to USD 1.5 trillion in the 2027 budget, the Pentagon wants to triple spending on drones and related technology to more than USD 74 billion and invest over USD 30 billion into more critical munitions, including missile interceptors, whose stockpiles have become critically low during the Iran war.
Military officials said the spending blueprint was developed before the conflict in the Middle East. They also did not discuss how much they will request in additional funds for the war, which would be on top of what the White House is seeking to boost defense spending in the next budget year.
“The overlap, you’ll see, is the request for munitions, which is something we always need,” Jules Hurst III, acting undersecretary of defense and the Pentagon’s comptroller, told reporters at a briefing. “We always need to increase our magazine depth. But outside of that, there aren’t any operational costs in here from Iran.”
Heavy investment in drone warfare The missile interceptors whose numbers are under the most strain are the Patriot and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, air defense systems. The THAAD system is designed for defeating medium-range ballistic missiles, while the Patriot system is for taking down short-range ballistic missiles and crewed aircraft. However, they both also were used to shoot down cheap Iranian drones.
The USD 30 billion budget item also would aim to purchase long-range Precision Strike Missiles and Mid-Range Capability missile systems used by the US Army. The budget proposal would allocate nearly USD 54 billion for military drones and related technology as well as USD 21 billion for weapons systems designed to take down enemy drones.
Drones and other unmanned vehicles have emerged as a key weapon in the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and top Pentagon officials say the US must significantly increase its funding of both drones and counter-drone systems.
“Drone warfare is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield,” Hurst said. “This budget is the largest investment in drone warfare and counter drone technology in U.S. history.” As part of the 2027 budget, the Pentagon also intends to grow the military by 44,500 troops, or more than 2 per cent, spend more than $2 billion on operations on the US-Mexico border and make the largest shipbuilding request since 1962.
Dramatic increase in Tomahawk missiles
While officials said the budget was developed before operations began in Iran, it featured major jumps in many of the missiles that have been used in the conflict. One of the most dramatic increases was in the choice for the Navy to increase of its purchase of the Tomahawk cruise missile from 55 missiles last year to 785 in this year’s budget. The long-range cruise missile was heavily used in Iran and led to concerns from experts that the military was using it much faster than it could replenish its stocks.
