The Pentagon’s proposed 2026 fiscal year budget comes in at more than one trillion dollars, and $179 billion of that is just for research, development, testing, and evaluation.
That money doesn’t go toward buying new jets, tanks, warships, or missiles. It funds the programs and technologies that could determine who wins or loses the next fight. At nearly 20% of the overall defense budget, this is the largest R&D request in Pentagon history and gives us an interesting look at where U.S. military planners think the future of warfare is headed.
At a high level, this research budget is focused on survivability, speed, and autonomy. This includes:
- The B-21 Raider stealth bomber, under the Long Range Strike Bomber program;
- Loyal wingman drones under the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program;
- Hypersonic missile development across all branches;
- Artificial intelligence and autonomy;
- And $40 billion marked for classified projects.
A major theme in this year’s request is autonomous aviation. The Air Force’s loyal wingman program, centered around aircraft like the MQ-28 “Ghost Bat” and XQ-58 “Valkyrie,” is designed to field uncrewed aircraft that can fly alongside F-22s, F-35s, and even tankers and cargo aircraft to carry and deploy weapons, jam enemy electronics and sensors, and extend the reach of our own.
Other branches are pushing ahead on drone swarms under the “Replicator” initiative. This program, thrust ahead as a priority by the Pentagon’s recent announcement, is intended to produce thousands of cheap, easily-replaced drones to overwhelm enemy defenses, serve as scouts, and generally extend the reach of U.S. forces based on observations from Ukraine.
On the other end of the aviation spectrum is the Long Range Strike Bomber program and the B-21 Raider. Unlike the small drones, the Raider is designed to penetrate deep into contested airspace with both conventional and nuclear weapons. Like the B-2 and B-1 it is meant to replace, the B-21 will be a major piece of the United States’ nuclear triad, and several are already flying and undergoing testing, but the Defense Department wants to push $4.7 billion into the program just for R&D, so there is obviously more work to be done.
If the B-21 can’t make it to a target, the Pentagon is hoping that hypersonic weapons can, and they’ve committed about $4.1 billion to research and development. These missiles travel at least Mach 5 and maneuver in flight, making them extremely difficult to intercept. Countries like Russia and China boast several hypersonic weapons, and Russia reportedly first used one operationally in 2024. Programs like the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike and the Army’s Dark Eagle are aimed at fielding reliable, precision hypersonic strike options to help close the gap.
Nearly $450 million is being funnelled toward defending against hypersonics —more than double what was allocated last year. Systems like the Patriot and THAAD are incredibly capable, but their effectiveness against maneuverable missiles traveling at Mach 5 is unknown. They weren’t designed to defeat this threat, and so new interceptors and tracking satellites are needed.
The largest portion of this R&D budget, about $40 billion, is marked for classified projects. We obviously don’t know what specific projects are being funded through this, but there’s a good chance they include advanced drones, electronic warfare and signals intelligence systems, next-generation stealth platforms, and cyber capabilities. Previous graduates from the “black budget” include the F-117 Nighthawk, the RQ-170 Sentinel, and even the Sea Shadow experimental stealth ship.
We broke down these key programs and priorities and what they mean for the Pentagon’s plans for the future in our latest YouTube video.
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