President Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request includes a new “presidential priorities” category, earmarking $750 billion for such things as the Golden Dome missile defense system, drones, artificial intelligence and building up the defense industrial base, Pentagon officials said Tuesday, reported The Hill. The budget “will be the largest investment in military capabilities in over a generation,” Jules ‘Jay’ Hurst, who performs the duties of Pentagon comptroller, told reporters.
Among the asks, The Hill reports, is $102 billion for aircraft procurement and research and development, nearly $75 billion for drones and counter-drone and technologies, and $65 billion to build 18 Navy warships and 16 support ships—part of the Pentagon’s “Golden Fleet” initiative. As part of aircraft procurement, the Pentagon wants 85 F-35 aircraft per year and to develop next-generation systems like the F-47 fighter jet and the B-21 bomber.
