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30 Apr 26. War Department’s $1.5 Trillion Budget Proposal Includes Sizable Nuclear Triad Investments. The War Department aims to modernize the U.S. nuclear triad — including air, land and sea weapons — and the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal includes ample investment to make that happen, said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during testimony on Capitol Hill today.
“[This budget] invests in it — $71 billion in our nuclear triad and [nuclear command, control and communications], understanding that if you get that wrong, you get everything else wrong,” Hegseth told senators during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
The secretary pointed to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as an example of why the U.S. has a nuclear deterrent and why it must maintain that strategic deterrent capability.
“Imagine what the situation in the region would look like if Iran also wielded a nuclear weapon — and the limits it would put on our capabilities in those situations,” Hegseth said. “Our adversaries have to deal with that dilemma because of the strength of our nuclear triad — so that $71 billion investment, the [direct reporting program managers] that have been put over top of it to move those systems left … it’s just been a priority since we came into the building, and we’re funding it accordingly.”
Within President Donald J. Trump’s FY27 budget request, $71.4 billion is allocated to modernizing all three legs of the U.S. nuclear capability.
In the air domain, there’s $6.1 billion for the B-21 Raider, a dual-capable penetrating strike stealth bomber, that can deliver both conventional and nuclear munitions. The Raider was first unveiled in 2023 and is planned as a central component of the nuclear triad’s air leg. A top priority for the department, the Air Force plans to procure a minimum of 100 B-21 aircraft.
The FY27 budget also includes $4.6 billion for the Sentinel/Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, intended to modernize and replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile weapons system with 400 operationally deployed missiles and 450 silos across the U.S. The Sentinel program includes infrastructure projects, such as hardened silos and other facilities, across five states.
Around $1.5 billion is included for the Long Range Stand-Off Weapon, a replacement for the bomber-delivered AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile.
And for the sea-based leg of the triad, there is $16.2 billion for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. The Columbia-class is currently in production and will replace the existing Ohio-class vessels. The president’s budget includes the procurement of the fourth submarine in this class and additional funding for the continued development of the third submarine in the class, the USS Groton. There is also funding here for research, development, test and evaluation, as well as for investment in the industrial base that builds the Columbia-class submarine.
Enhancements to the industrial base are not limited to just those private sector companies that build submarines. Hegseth said the War Department is very interested in strengthening the entire industrial base, because the ability of America’s private sector to quickly provide the most advanced weapons, munitions and other material to the department is critical to national security.
“A nation’s ability to build, to innovate and to support critical needs of its warfighters at speed and at scale is the foundation upon which its deterrence and survival rests,” Hegseth told lawmakers.
For years, the secretary said, the defense industrial base had been neglected. But that has changed.
“Under the leadership of President Trump, our builder-in-chief, we are reversing this systemic decay and putting our defense industrial base back on a wartime footing,” he said. (Source: U.S. DoD)
29 Apr 26. Reauthorizations Accelerate Tech for War Department.
The recent reauthorization of a couple of small business technology programs opens the gates for the War Department to get cutting-edge technology more quickly into the hands of warfighters.
The Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs have, for decades, been cornerstones of defense innovation by allocating billions of dollars in research and development awards to thousands of American small business innovators.
At the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, today, Emil Michael, undersecretary of war for research and engineering, explained how the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act, signed into law April 13 by President Donald J. Trump, enhances the department’s access to the best technology.
“The moment the bill was signed, we had solicitations ready, including over 90 topics where the department seeks innovative capabilities directly from industry,” Michael said, adding that, since its inception, the all-time investment through those programs stands at over $41 billion.
“That funding has driven 80,000 awards to 14,000 small businesses. This is how we turn American ingenuity into an overwhelming battlefield advantage for the warfighter,” he said.
The greatest innovation happens in small businesses, and Michael said American small businesses doing innovative work in space, artificial intelligence, hypersonic research and quantum, for instance, will ensure U.S. warfighters can confidently face the emerging threats from adversaries.
“Our small business partners bring the grit, the speed, [and] the agility that the joint force needs to win,” he said. “Moving forward, every innovation dollar we invest, including through SBIR [and] STTR, must deliver bleeding-edge capability to our military that can scale rapidly and remain cost-effective for the American taxpayer.”
Michael said that as the head of the War Department’s technology office, he plans to make it easier for small businesses to partner with the government to bring their innovation and to eliminate bureaucracy.
“Under my leadership, we’re done stringing industry along with endless ‘maybes,'” he said. “My commitment to you is fast ‘yeses’ and fast ‘nos,’ so you can get back to doing what you do best: innovating for the warfighter.”
Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the Small Business Administration, said the War Department’s investment in small businesses has huge economic impacts inside the U.S.
“[For] the Department of War alone, [each] dollar they invest has a 22-to-one return on investment, which is really powerful,” she said. “It’s generated about $121 billion in revenues and 1.5 million jobs in this country.”
Loeffler said nearly half of the awards go to firms with fewer than 25 employees, noting that America’s small innovators, on which the program was founded, are making the largest strategic impact on national security.
Small businesses are already contributing to the War Department’s efforts through SIBR and STTR funding.
Weather-sensing hardware and software developed by PEMDAS Technologies & Innovations can be used on helicopters and autonomous aircraft like drones, for instance, to equip them to be more aware of weather hazards, even outside the U.S. Using SBIR dollars, Caroline Harten, a meteorologist with PEMDAS, said the company was able to develop prototypes, flight test prototypes and provide opportunities to collaborate with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
“We’re working to solve a very hard problem that’s critical to our ability to operate overseas,” she said.
Small Business Innovation Research funding allows the company to keep working and developing prototypes for DOW.
Thibault Roumengous, director of research at NIRSense, said SBIR dollars are enabling biosensors developed by his company “to look at collaboration and engagement of … drone pilots in special training circumstances.”
Using near-infrared spectroscopy, he said, the sensors measure perfusion, which is the delivery of blood to tissue. Such systems allow monitoring of reperfusion injuries from tourniquets, for instance.
The company put sensors on headgear, adding EEG and the ability to supply bio-impedance pulses to help improve performance by increasing alertness. “It stimulates the brain to keep the user engaged,” Roumengous said. “But it’s still about monitoring somebody’s physiology.” (Source: U.S. DoD) (Source: U.S. DoD)
29 Apr 26. Hegseth, Caine Say Budget Increases Lethality, Strengthens Defense Industrial Base.
The War Department’s $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 budget request reflects the urgency of the moment, addressing both the deferment of long-standing problems, as well as positioning the joint force for both the current and the future fight, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said today during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington.
The secretary said the defense industrial base has been hollowed out by years of offshoring and outsourcing and is riddled with cost overruns, adding that under the leadership of this administration, the department is helping put it back on a wartime footing.
“[This] budget will ensure the United States continues to maintain the world’s most powerful and capable military, as we grapple with a complex threat environment across multiple theaters,” Hegseth said.
The budget includes a pay increase for service members. Specifically, a 7% increase for military personnel in the grade of E-5 and below, a 6% increase for personnel in the grades of E-6 to O-3 and a 5% increase for members in the grade of O-4 and above.
It also eliminates all poor or failing barracks.
“Quality of life for our troops is front and center in this budget,” Hegseth said. “We have flipped the Pentagon acquisition process from a bureaucratic model to a business model 180 [degrees], decisively moving from an acquisition environment — paralyzed by bureaucratic red tape — into an outcomes-driven organization, focused on delivering the most [impact] at cost [and] at scale for taxpayer dollars.”
He noted that those changes would be achieved through multiyear procurement agreements and smart business deals for critical munitions and capabilities.
“We’ve sent an unambiguous demand signal to industry partners to build more and build faster. The result has been a surge, a revitalization of our great factories and a massive reinvestment in the skilled American workers who serve as the industrial muscle behind our warriors,” he said.
The secretary said U.S. companies are investing in America with their own money and, their own capital, adding that this has never been done before and is long overdue.
“We are firing up the American economic engine, and at every level of our defense industrial base. Every policy we pursue, every budgetary item we request, serves to ensure the department remains laser-focused on increasing lethality and survivability of our forces from the front lines to the factory floors,” Hegseth said.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also testified and said the department needs timely, predictable and sustained investment.
The budget is critical to modernizing the joint force and ensuring that whatever threats emerge in the future, warfighters are ready to meet those challenges and defend the nation, Caine said.
The chairman reiterated Hegseth’s comments on the need to recharge the defense industrial base to ensure military readiness.
“I have the absolute trust in the extraordinary men and women who come and volunteer to serve our nation within our joint force. They execute the missions quietly every day and, coupled with the American spirit, out-think, out-compete and relentlessly innovate,” Caine said.
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(Source: U.S. DoD)
24 Apr 26.
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Southcom Establishes Autonomous Warfare Command
April 23, 2026 | By War.gov
Marine Corps Gen. Francis L. Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command, directed the establishment of the Southcom Autonomous Warfare Command.
The new command will support President Donald J. Trump’s National Security Strategy priorities, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s National Defense Strategy lines of effort, Southcom imperatives, regional security cooperation and operational dominance.
“From the seafloor to space and across the cyber domain, we fully intend to leverage the clear superiority of the American defense ecosystem by deploying cutting-edge innovation and working ever closer with our enduring partners in the region to outmatch those who threaten our collective peace and security,” Donovan said.
Once fully established, the new command will employ autonomous, semiautonomous and unmanned platforms and systems to counter threats and challenges across domains, linking tactical missions to long-term strategic effects. It will also collaborate closely with allies and partners in the region to advance shared goals, such as disrupting and degrading narco-terrorist and cartel networks and responding to life-threatening crises caused by large-scale natural disasters.
During the lead-up to establishing the autonomous warfare command, Southcom will work with the military services and the War Department’s Defense Autonomous Warfare Group to identify the required expertise and capabilities for the new command to reach full operational capacity and integrate into Southcom’s mission.
“Our geographic area of responsibility has a wide range of conditions, varied terrain and diverse operational environments that make it an ideal setting in which to innovate. It is also a region with very capable and committed security partners who lean forward, embrace technologies and are very eager to work collaboratively with us to support regional stability in new and effective ways,” Donovan said.
Earlier this year, the Southcom commander signaled his interest in leveraging emerging technologies in his written posture statement to Congress, telling lawmakers he intended “to capitalize on next-generation capabilities like unmanned platforms, integration and commercial tools to better enable us and our partners to counter … threats together.”
Outlining his imperatives while speaking to Senate Armed Services Committee members on Capitol Hill last month, Donovan said he aimed to develop and field cost-effective and modernized forces tailored for the Southcom mission, including autonomous systems and human-machine teaming “to greatly increase lethality, all-domain awareness and data-sharing for U.S. and partner forces.”
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(Source: U.S. DoD)
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