Page 27 – Defense Daily

House T&I Committee Proposes $15 Billion For Coast Guard Shipbuilding

The House committee that oversees policies for the Coast Guard is recommending $15 billion be added to the service’s account for acquiring ships and vessels, including more than $8 billion for icebreaking ships.

The Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee’s budget reconciliation proposal would provide nearly $23 billion to the Coast Guard overall between fiscal years 2025 and 2029, a significant boost to the service, which gets between $12 billion to $13 billion in annual appropriations but has been making the case that it needs $20 billion to acquire, operate, and maintain its assets, repair its facilities, and house its personnel.

The proposal, which will be marked up by the committee on Wednesday, includes $5 billion for the Coast Guard’s nascent medium polar icebreaker effort, the Arctic Security Cutter (ASC). The Coast Guard recently put out a request for information for the ASC seeking potential domestic and foreign shipyards that could build and deliver the first vessel within three years of contract award.

Media in Finland has reported that the Coast Guard is in talks with a shipyard in that country to purchase medium icebreakers.

Language in the proposed bill goes beyond the ASC, saying the funding would be for “Arctic Security Cutters and domestic icebreakers and spare parts and program management for such Cutters and icebreakers.” It’s unclear what domestic icebreakers the committee is referring too.

Another $4.3 billion would be for the Polar Security Cutter (PSC), a heavy icebreaker that is already under contract to Bollinger Shipyards with the first vessel slated for delivery in 2030. In addition to the first PSC, the Coast Guard has awarded contracts for long-lead material purchases for the second and third vessels.

The Coast Guard has said it needs a mix of eight or nine medium and heavy polar icebreakers.

The committee is also proposing $4.3 billion for the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program. The Coast Guard’s program of record is for 25 OPCs, with the first four medium-endurance cutters being built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group and the next 11 by Austal USA. The Coast Guard plans to host a competition for the remaining OPCs.

The Fast Response Cutter, which typically operates in the littorals, would receive $1 billion. Bollinger also builds the FRCs, having delivered 59 of the currently contracted 67 154-foot vessels. The $1 billion being recommended for the program would likely bring the buy to 70 or 71 FRCs.

The proposed bill would also provide $3.3 billion for shoreside infrastructure, $1.4 billion for aviation and cutter maintenance, $180 million for maritime domain awareness equipment and services—to include $75 million to acquire services or autonomous maritime systems—and $162 million for the Waterways Commerce Cutter program.

For the air domain, the committee recommends $2.3 billion to purchase helicopters and related spares and simulators, and $571.5 million for the purchase of fixed-wing aircraft and related equipment.

The Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee must still weigh in on the reconciliation proposal and final passage requires approvals by the House and Senate.

DoD Industrial Base Nominee Would Prioritize Munitions Production

Munitions production is at the top of his priority list, the nominee to lead the Defense Department’s industrial base efforts told a Senate panel on Tuesday.

One key to bolstering munitions production is “predictable and stable defense budget and program spend,” Michael Cadenazzi told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing to be assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy. Cadenazzi enjoyed bipartisan support during the hearing.

“The more we can stabilize that, the more industry will be able to align around it,” he said. Industry also needs to know what DoD expects of it.

“A better understanding of industry of what the expectations for surge capacity are will make it clear what the potential opportunities are for them and the level of capital required to increase facilities and workforce,” Cadenazzi said. “That’s a major opportunity for the department to articulate what would be a big, hairy, audacious goal in business school terms, and to go ahead and say, ‘We need a lot more capability from you.’ And we need to agree then on the investment required to meet that point.”

Cadenazzi is a retired Navy intelligence officer who describes himself on LinkedIn as a “serial entrepreneur.” He is currently a managing director at the consulting firm EY, and before that worked at the software firm Govini, and McKinsey and Company.

Cadenazzi also said he is keen on continuing to improve the DoD acquisition process by leveraging existing authorities such as Middle Tier Acquisition and Other Transaction Authority to speed purchases. “Education of the workforce” on these authorities is critical, he said.

Reducing regulations to make DoD more accessible by new vendors is also important, he said.

Cadenazzi said he is a proponent of SASC Chairman Roger Wicker’s (R-Miss.) FORGED Act, which is aimed at speeding acquisition, and increasing competition and innovation. Wicker said during the hearing that he is working with Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member on the panel, to insert most of the FORGED Act in the upcoming fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

On the subject of tariffs, Cadenazzi said he assumes that the Industrial Base Policy Office is analyzing the potential impacts of the trade impacts on the defense industrial base but he is not aware of any study. If confirmed, he said he would work with the committee to mitigate negative impacts of tariffs on the defense industry.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said a ball bearing company in her state that supplies the aerospace and defense industry that uncertainty about steel tariffs has lengthened the lead time for steel from 20 weeks to 30 months.

Cadenazzi replied that there are likely positives and negatives from the tariffs, and that he will get back to the committee with an analysis, if confirmed.

Slingshot Aerospace Offering Sovereign Space Domain Awareness Capabilities To Nations

Space Domain Awareness provider Slingshot Aerospace on Tuesday debuted what it says is the “world’s first” package to provide sovereign nations with their own space tracking capabilities, decreasing their reliance on outside help in gaining insights into the space above their skies.

Slingshot’s offering gives potential customers options to choose their sensors, which include the company’s Horus and Argus starting arrays that peer into low-Earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous orbit (GEO), respectively, and Varda, a gimbaled electro-optical sensor that can see objects in LEO and GEO in daytime.

Countries that have assets in space currently rely on a “powerhouse,” typically the U.S., to provide them with space domain awareness so they can keep their spacecraft safe, and to know who is flying over their space, Erik Ekwurzel, chief data and intelligence officer of Slingshot, told Defense Daily last week.

Some of Slingshot’s customers want a “sovereign capability” to begin to “have more control over their own destiny” around space domain awareness, he said. This control prevents them from potentially being cut off from the data that the U.S. or others typically provide them, he said.

Customers that acquire their own sensors will also be able to tap into Slingshot’s global network, which consists of more than 220 sensors at 22 sites, and at the same time expand the “federated sensor network so that everybody who is in the federation will have much more global access to data,” Ekwurzel said.

Additionally, Slingshot’s customers will be able to license the company’s cloud-based sensor orchestration and data processing suite, which can provide capabilities such as anomaly alerts, space object catalog maintenance, tasking orchestration, and more.

With space becoming increasingly congested, “it’s just becoming harder for people to make sure that their satellites don’t bump into something,” Ekwurzel said.

Radian Aerospace Introduces Reusable Space Platform For Hypersonic Testing, Orbital Use

Radian Aerospace has introduced a reusable space capsule it is developing as a testbed for technologies it is developing and for customers developing hypersonic and spaceflight systems, giving the Seattle-based startup a means to generate near-term sales while it continues development of a reusable spaceplane.

Radian is targeting the 2026 timeframe for the first launch or the Radian Reusable Reentry Vehicle (R3V), which can be launched atop a small or medium launch vehicle, the company said on Tuesday. For recovery, the R3V will deploy a parachute to slow its descent before capture by a helicopter.

The R3V will enable Radian to flight-test its patent pending Dur-E-Therm thermal protection system the company has developed to withstand the heat and structural demands its Radian One single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane will encounter when it begins operations. The R3V will also provide data on aerodynamic performance, guidance and control, and propulsion integration, for Radian One.

As a revenue generator, potential customers are interested in R3V for hypersonic technology development and tactically responsive space, the company said. The vehicle can be used to rest reentry systems, flight controls, materials, and sensor payloads as speeds above Mach 5, it said.

“It provides a really good stepping stone for Radian One, and can throw off some revenue in the in the meantime, and provide a platform for anybody seeking hypersonic technology test, or even orbital capabilities,” Livingston Holder, Radian’s chief technology officer, told Defense Daily

The reusability of the platform lowers the costs for testing and increases operational cadence. Holder said that the helicopter recovery method lessens the need for any major refurbishment that would be required following landing on land or water, speeding relaunch.

“As fast as you can get a launch vehicle under it, we should be ready to fly,” he said last week.

The capsule weighs about 1,100 pounds, including payload. The payload capacity is at least 100 pounds, more if less propellant is required, Holder said.

The R3V can be stationed in orbit, and then deliver cargo anywhere on Earth as needed, he said. It can also loiter in space and dispense small satellites as needed, he added.

Radian recently revealed its first prototype Radian One flight vehicle (PFV01), which has undergone a round of taxi tests. In the coming year the company plans to conduct wind tunnel testing on the 1/12 scale model, which along with other development efforts will lead a second flight vehicle that Radian plans to begin flight-testing in the 2026 timeframe, Holder said.

The PFV02 will also be about a 1/12 scale model, and will undergo sled testing, he said. Radian One is intended to be launched from a two-mile-long rail sled system.

$2 Billion for Space-Based AMTI Proposed in DoD Reconciliation Bill

While the Department of the Air Force is pursuing a fleet of Boeing [BA] E-7 Wedgetails to replace the service’s E-3 AWACS for air moving target indication (AMTI), the department also has discussed AMTI from space since September, 2021.

Now, such space-based AMTI is to receive a boost with $2 billion in the DoD reconciliation bill.

In addition, the U.S. Air Force may start engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) in fiscal 2027 for upgrades to the Wedgetail, including a replacement of the Northrop Grumman [NOC] Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar.

In 2023, the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) studied future AMTI and ground moving target indication (GMTI) against high technology adversaries, such as China and Russia–a study panel chaired by David Whelan, the former chief technologist of Boeing’s defense unit (Defense Daily, March 16, 2023).

The new DoD reconciliation bill has $100 million for GMTI satellites–an effort under the U.S. Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

The aging AWACS and the GMTI Joint STARS aircraft by Northrop Grumman “are increasingly considered unable to survive in the Highly Contested Environments (HCEs) that could be created by high-end adversaries,” according to the SAB terms of reference (ToR) on the completed 2023 study, which does not have a link on the SAB website. “Hence there is a growing interest in both new air (e.g., E-7) and space-based systems as an alternative means of supporting operations in these environments.”

“Space-based radar and electro-optical sensors can generate imagery of stationary targets,” SAB said. “However, tracking moving targets from Low Earth Orbit requires near-continuous target coverage and hence highly proliferated constellations (hundreds of satellites). In addition, a Space-Based Radar (SBR) able to detect slowly moving targets must have a long antenna which tends to make satellite cost high. For these reasons, past efforts to develop MTI SBRs have not resulted in the deployment of an operational system. However, current commercial efforts are driving down the cost of proliferated LEO satellite constellations with constellations comprised of thousands of satellites proposed and hundreds already launched. In addition, alternative sensing approaches and innovative concepts, at the individual satellite level and at the overall systems level, may help to drive down the cost of satellites.”

“Given these developments and the pressing need, the Department of the Air Force would benefit from an independent assessment of the feasibility of developing and deploying a system incorporating aircraft and satellites to provide surveillance and targeting of moving targets in HCEs,” according to the ToR.

“Space-based radar and electro-optical sensors can generate imagery of stationary targets,” per an Air Force release on the study on the SAB website. “However, tracking moving targets from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) requires near-continuous target coverage and hence highly proliferated constellations (hundreds of satellites). In addition, a Space-Based Radar (SBR) able to detect slowly moving targets must have a long antenna which tends to make satellite cost high.”

“For these reasons, past efforts to develop MTI SBRs have not resulted in the deployment of an operational system,” the Air Force said. “However, current commercial efforts are driving down the cost of proliferated LEO satellite constellations with constellations comprised of thousands of satellites proposed and hundreds already launched. In addition, alternative sensing approaches and innovative concepts, at the individual satellite level and at the overall systems level, may help to drive down the cost of satellites.”

The AMTI language in the DoD reconciliation bill is in the latter’s section on integrated air and missile defense–a section which also contains $7.2 billion to develop/buy/integrate space sensors, $5.6 billion to develop space-based and boost-phase interceptors, $2.4 billion to develop non-kinetic missile defense, and $500 million for national security space launch infrastructure.

The bill’s defense grab bag also includes more than $4 billion for classified military space superiority programs–$300 million of which are under the Air Force rapid capabilities office.

In addition, the DoD reconciliation bill has $528 million for two space situational awareness programs–the Space Force’s Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) radar by Northrop Grumman and the NRO’s SILENTBARKER satellites.

The first DARC site is to turn on in Exmouth in the Western Australian Outback next year as part of a rapid prototyping Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) effort, while Sites 2 and 3 are to be in the United Kingdom and Texas.

SILENTBARKER satellites, which the NROL-107 mission carried to orbit in September 2023, are to be an exponential leap in geosynchronous orbit indications and warning for the U.S. Space Surveillance Network.

Anduril Adds To Pulsar EW Family With Lightweight System That Counters Drone Swarms

Anduril Industries is building out its family of Pulsar electronic warfare (EW) systems, adding a lightweight unit to the mix that can be rapidly deployed to the tactical edge for a variety of missions, including knocking out swarms of small drones.

Pulsar-Lite fits in checked luggage, weighs under 25 pounds, and can be mounted on ground vehicles, aircraft, drones, and maritime platforms in expeditionary deployments to provide detect, identify, track, and defeat capabilities in minutes after removing it from its case, the company said on Tuesday.

Pulsar-L features Anduril’s trademark approach to development, a modular design that leverages commercially-available components, high-performance computing, and software-defined radios for easy upgrades as technology evolves, and artificial intelligence and machine learning that enable autonomous operations, with or without a man-on-the-loop at a push of a button.

Legacy EW systems that can be manually intensive and are designed for specific threats take months or longer to be upgraded to adapt to unknown signatures on the battlefield whereas Pulsar-L can “redevelop capability at the level of software and countermeasures in the speed of seconds and minutes and hours and days,” Chris Brose, co-president and chief strategy officer of Anduril, told reporters on Monday evening.

Anduril already has use cases where the system has observed a new threat signature and then the company developed and delivered updates to Pulsar-L within 24 hours to be able to detect, locate, and engage the threat, Sam El-Akkad, vice president and general manager of EW for Anduril, said on the media call.

“This is something that is typically unheard of in the EW world,” El-Akkad said.

Pulsar-L can detect and defeat drone swarms beyond five kilometers but ranges can differ depending on the variables, he said.

Like other variants of the Pulsar family, “Pulsar-Lite is deployed,” Brose said. “It is participating in real world operations in the most stressing EW environments, and it is succeeding.”

He declined to discuss customers and specific deployments. The system was fielded in 2024, entered low-rate initial production earlier in 2025 with plans to build more than 100 this year, eventually scaling to thousands per year, El-Akkad said.

Anduril in 2024 unveiled its initial Pulsar systems, including fixed-site, vehicle-based, and aircraft-mounted versions (Defense Daily

, May 6, 2024). The fixed-site version, mounted on a tri-pod, weighs over 50 pounds and runs on shore power. Pulsar-L offers the option of running on a battery pack that “lasts many, many hours,” El-Akkad said.

The company plans future variants of Pulsar as threats evolve.

Building on the core elements of the Pulsar family, Pulsar-L went from concept to fielding in eight months, Brose said.

In addition to operating with Anduril’s Lattice common operating platform, Pulsar-L can work with other command and control devices such as the Tactical Assault Kit, and other sensors and effectors, he said.

Satellite Manufacturer Apex Raises $200 Million To Pursue Vertical Integration, Build Inventory

Flush with demand for its standardized spacecraft buses and seeking to speed production, Apex on Tuesday said it has raised $200 million in a Series C round that will be put toward designing and developing more subsystems and components in-house, and holding on to more inventory of components and finished products, the startup said on Tuesday.

Bringing more parts manufacturing in-house helps solve supply chain delays, speed overall production, reduce costs, and improve quality and reliability, Ian Cinnamon, founder and CEO of Apex, told Defense Daily on Monday before the announcement.

Laying the foundation to be more vertically integrated is expensive and so the new funding round helps with the necessary investment in related research and development, Cinnamon said. He declined to disclose specific parts Apex will make on its own, saying these are in areas where the supply chain is “limited.”

“It lets us kind of control our own destiny, to some degree, a lot more,” Cinnamon said.

Building up inventory of parts will also help accelerate production and having completed spacecraft available will let Apex deliver product faster, Cinnamon said. Current production is lagging demand, which has outpaced expectations, he said.

Having more assets on hand will help the Defense Department meet its need for tactical responsive space capabilities, in particular for the emerging Golden Dome program if it accelerates demand for more assets in space, Cinnamon said.

Apex is currently producing for customers its smallest spacecraft, Aries, which comes in two variants, one for low-Earth orbit and the other for geosynchronous orbit. Apex last March launched its own demonstrator Aries spacecraft that includes payloads provided by Anduril Industries, Booz Allen Hamilton [BAH], and others, and built three for customers in the fourth quarter of 2024, and is delivering even more for customers now, Cinnamon said.

The company is also building its first Nova spacecraft bus, which can carry up to 500 kilograms of payload, more than three times Aries. The first Nova flight, which will also be a test platform for Apex that includes mission partners, is expected in 2026. Nova already has customers.

“Multiple dozens of major defense primes picked Nova as their platform for different government missions that they are actively bidding on today,” Cinnamon said.

Apex plans to ramp up production of Nova in 2026.

Ongoing product sales are generating revenue, allowing Apex to sustain operations without the Series C raise, Cinnamon said. The new funding round opens the door to the move to become more vertically integrated and build inventory, he said.

Apex is also developing Comet, a satellite bus with a payload capacity greater than 500 kilograms. Production of Comet is two years away, he said.

Apex is producing its satellites at its 50,000-square-foot Factory One complex in Los Angeles. Factory One will support production of about a dozen satellite buses per month.

Apex has about 150 employees and expects to have 250 by the end of 2025, Cinnamon said. The company has raised more than $300 million through different seed rounds.

The Series C round was led by Point72 Ventures, and co-led by 8VC, alongside existing investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, and new investors Washington Harbour Partners and StepStone Group.

Lawmakers Recommend $33.7 Billion For Shipbuilding, Naval Industrial Base Boost In Reconciliation Bill

The Republican heads of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees recommended the reconciliation bill include $33.7 billion in naval shipbuilding and industrial base funding through 2029.

The committees’ joint overview said this reconciliation recommendation “invests in autonomous surface and subsurface technology [and builds] capacity and improves infrastructure in the maritime industrial base.”

Shipbuilding highlights include $4.6 billion to fund a second FY 2027

Virginia-class attack submarine, $5.4 billion for two more Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and $2.7 billion to procure new John Lewis-class T-AO oilers fleet replenishment oilers.

Amphibious shipbuilding lines also include $2.1 billion for a San Antonio-class Amphibious Transport Dock (LPD) ship, $3.7 billion for an America-class Amphibious Assault Ship (LHA), $695 million to implement a multi-ship amphibious warship contract, $1.8 billion to procure the Landing Ship Medium (LSM) and $160 million in advance procurement for LSM, and $300 million for the Ship-to Shore Connectors (LCAC-100 class).

A line of $159 million to lease ships for Marine Corps operations likely refers to the LSM bridging solutions wherein the service is leasing modified Stern Landing Vessels to test concepts for the LSM.

The bill has a large set of investments focused on unmanned systems, at times being surprisingly specific.

This includes $1.5 billion for expansion of small unmanned surface vessel production; $1.8 billion for expansion of medium USV production; $1.3 billion for “expansion” of Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) production; and $250 million for development, production and integration of wave-powered unmanned underwater vehicles.

This potential increase comes as medium USVs are getting a great deal of focus. Saildrone’s USVs are being used in a contractor owned, contractor operated model by the U.S. Navy to monitor maritime behavior in both the Middle East with Task Force 59 and U.S. 4th Fleet in the Caribbean Sea.

Separately, the Navy has tested several Medium-sized USVs in the Pacific Ocean. Leidos [LDOS] produced the Sea Hunter and Seahawk medium-displacement autonomous USVs as well as the the Mariner and Ranger Ghost Fleet Overlord USVs.

Last week, unmanned surface vessel developer Saronic unveiled the design for two new 40- and 60-foot small USVs (Defense Daily, April 23).

Earlier this month Saronic announced the acquisition of the small Gulf Craft shipbuilder to help produce its Marauder Medium USV offering (Defense Daily, April 16).

The bill does not include more funds for LUSV following a January confirmation from the Navy’s director of Surface Warfare that he was pushing a change from developing separate large and medium USVs focused on the magazine or ISR payloads, respectively, into one larger MUSV that can feature weapon or sensor payloads individually (Defense Daily, Jan. 14).

Industry has recently showed it is getting the message that DoD wants more unmanned maritime systems, especially in the wake of former Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks’s Replicator initiative to quickly deploy large numbers of unmanned systems to help counter increasing Chinese military capabilities.

Recently at the annual Sea-Air-Space expo, vendors were pitching several new UUVs for the Navy, like Anduril’s Copperhead UUV (Defense Daily, April 7) and Leidos’ Sea Dart USV (Defense Daily, April 17).

At the time, Leidos official Jason Weed admitted this is partially an outgrowth of the Defense Department’s recent Replicator initiative.

Separately, while a legislative push for wave-powered UUVs is new, Boeing’s [BA] Liquid Robotics-developed Wave Glider USV is powered by both solar and wave motion via a two part design with an underwater towed element that harnesses vertical wave energy for forward thrust.

In 2023 the Navy launched a Wave Glider from a Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship for the UNITAS international Central and South America maritime exercise. That system has also been part of the 4th Fleet unmanned integration campaign in the Caribbean Sea region (Defense Daily, July 12, 2023).

The bill also would add $188 million for development and testing of maritime robotic autonomous systems and enabling technologies and $174 million to develop a Test Resource Management Center robotic autonomous systems proving ground.

GOP’s $150 Billion Defense Bill For Reconciliation Funds Golden Dome, ‘Historic’ Tech Investments

The Republicans leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee have rolled out their $150 billion defense spending plan for the forthcoming reconciliation bill, which includes $25 billion for the Golden Dome missile defense system and tens of billions to boost shipbuilding and production of munitions and drones.

Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Sen. Roger Wicker, the HASC and SASC chairs, respectively, both cited the bill’s “historic investments” in new technology, which includes funding spaced-based intercept capabilities, with the House panel set to consider the legislation on Tuesday.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee member, during a hearing on the fiscal 2023 defense budget request. (DoD Photo by U.S. Air Force TSgt. Jack Sanders)

“This legislation is a historic investment of $150 billion to restore America’s military capabilities and strengthen our national defense,” Rogers said. “Our military’s resources have declined over the years, and defense spending as a percentage of GDP has dropped to the lowest levels since before WWII. Our defense industrial base has weakened. America’s deterrence is failing and without a generational investment in our national defense, we will lose the ability to defeat our adversaries. With this bill, we have the opportunity to get back on track and restore our national security and global leadership.”

Earlier this month, Congress passed a compromise budget resolution that set a blueprint for passing Trump administration priorities via the reconciliation process, to include plans for spending $150 billion on defense over the next four years (Defense Daily, April 10).

Congressional Republicans are still facing negotiations on a range of high-ticket items for the eventual reconciliation bill, to include potentially finding up to $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, finalizing details on raising the debt ceiling and extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts.

After HASC’s markup of the defense portion of the bill, it’ll be sent to the House Budget Committee that will compile it with the other committee’s portions of the legislation to form the full reconciliation bill. When the Senate then takes up the measure, SASC may conduct its own markup prior to the upper chamber’s consideration of the legislation.

The reconciliation process would allow the Senate, when the eventual bill gets there, to pass billions of dollars in budget-related Trump administration priorities without requiring the 60-vote threshold needed to break the filibuster, while the House will require a near-unified GOP caucus to support the measure facing likely unanimous Democratic opposition over planned spending cuts in the legislation.

“The House and Senate Armed Services Committees developed this legislation in close conjunction with the White House to modernize America’s military, secure the border, and strengthen national security,” HASC and SASC wrote in a joint release.

The $24.7 billion Golden Dome and missile defense section of the bill compromises the second largest bucket of funding, behind the $34 billion for shipbuilding, with HASC noting it “supports President Trump’s vision for a layered missile defense shield for America” and “develops the space-based assets needed to support the system and rapidly accelerates defense against hypersonic threats to the homeland.”

Trump in late January signed an executive order to pursue the massive, likely multi-billion dollar Golden Dome project, originally called “Iron Dome For America,” which is intended to defend against ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missile threats (Defense Daily, Jan. 28).

The bill specifically includes $5.6 billion for development of space-based and boost phase intercept capabilities and $7.2 billion to develop and build military space-based sensors as well as $2.2 billion for acceleration of hypersonic defense systems and nearly $2 billion for improved ground-based missile defense radars.

The Pentagon’s continued push to increase munitions production capacity would receive a $21 billion boost, with the bill including billions in funding for a wide range of weapons across the services, including hypersonic, air-to-air, cruise, anti-ship, ballistic, and anti-radiation missiles, as well as funds to expand industrial base capacity and ramp up domestic production of rare earth and critical minerals.

The bill also includes $1 billion to expand the industrial base for one-way attack drones.

Lawmakers also included $14 billion to “expedite innovation to the warfighter,” which covers $1.1 billion to grow the capacity of the small UAS industrial base, scaling the developing of low cost, attritable weapon systems and $2 billion funds “for the expansion of Defense Innovation Unit scaling of commercial technology for military use.”

The $34 billion for shipbuilding in the bill includes $4.6 billion for a second Virginia-class submarine in FY ‘27 and $5.4 billion for two additional Guided Missile Destroyer ships.

Nuclear deterrence efforts received $12 billion, which covers $4.5 billion for acceleration of the new B-21 long-range bomber and $2 billion to speed up development and procurement of the nuclear armed sea-launched cruise missile program.

The bill also includes $11 billion for Indo-Pacific-related efforts, to include $850 million “for activities to protect United States interests and deter Chinese Communist Party aggression through provision of military support and assistance to the military, central government security forces, and central government security agencies of Taiwan.”

Congress Defense Reconciliation Includes $1.5 billion for Sentinel Risk Reduction

Both chambers of Congress released a $150 billion defense reconciliation bill over the weekend that includes $1.5 billion for Sentinel risk reduction and $500 million for Minuteman III improvements.

The bill also includes $800 million for accelerated next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) deployment and development. Sentinel, an ICBM currently being built by Northrop Grumman [NOC], will eventually replace the Boeing [BA]-made Minuteman III as the Air Force’s silo-based, nuclear-armed ICBM sometime in the 2030s while the Minuteman III is still commissioned.

All of these line items are part of a total of $13 billion appropriated to nuclear deterrence and modernization efforts, according to the bill’s overview.

Senate Armed Service Committee chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and House counterpart Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) revealed the legislation Sunday in what they said was meant to “achieve President Trump’s Peace Through Strength agenda.” The House committee will mark up the bill Tuesday in an effort to specify defense debt limits for fiscal 2025 and for fiscal 2025-2034.