The early morning sun strikes the U.S. Capitol November 6, 2006 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Congress’s compromise fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act language, released Saturday, kept within the budget cap topline, which means there were few major movements compared to what had been requested from the Pentagon earlier this year.
According to numbers compiled by Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners, the compromise language increases overall procurement and R&E funding by roughly $2 billion over the Pentagon’s FY25 request. Army procurement is roughly equal, Navy procurement is down about $500 million, and the Air Force is up around $800 million.
The House plans to vote on the bill on Wednesday. But the NDAA Is primarily a policy bill, not, as any Congressional appropriator would be quick to tell you, the final funding bill for the military. As a result, a few highlights did stick out to the Breaking Defense team. Below is our roundup:
Air Force
The NDAA language moves to slow or block a series of retirements requested by the Air Force. While many divestments would largely be approved, the bill would reject F-15E and F-22 retirements while extending limitations on offloading the RQ-4 and C-130, according to an explanatory statement accompanying the bill. The legislation would also permit continued A-10 retirements alongside older models of the F-15 and F-16 and ensure the service maintains 16 E-3s until the radar plane can be replaced either by the forthcoming E-7 or other capabilities.
Keeping with that theme, the bill would add in six F-15EXs, three C-130s — including an ski-equipped LC-130J — two C-40Bs and inject an additional $400 million for E-7 “acceleration,” which in the past has typically meant money funneled to long-lead procurement.
The language also prevents the Pentagon from accepting more than 30 F-35As, nine F-35Bs and nine F-35Cs until the Secretary of Defense takes several steps to improve the program, like formulating a plan to address deficiencies identified in a recent testing report. It further calls on subcontractors to follow prime manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s lead and invest their own dollars to improve the jet, and slashes $345M from Air Force procurement for “excess cost growth.”
While cutting $102 million earmarked for the service’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) effort and $159 million from the KC-46 program, the language adds in a requirement that the Secretary of the Air Force develop a plan to establish “air base air defense sites” at Air Force installations, as service officials fret whether their air bases can be properly defended against attacks from a peer adversary like China.
Army
The NDAA authors seem to enjoy tasking the Army with a series of reporting requirements.
Among the must-dos: a requirement for the Secretary of the Army to develop and implement a “plan for the procurement and fielding of additional kinetic effectors for low, slow, small-unmanned aircraft integrated defeat system.”
Another provision requires a report on the procurement of energetic material — key components in bombs and missiles — from sources outside the US.
It keeps going: There’s a mandate that the Army Secretary deliver a Black Hawk modernization report, as well as a report on the “testing, procurement, integration, and fielding of vehicle protection systems on Army ground combat vehicles.” And finally, a reporting requirement means the Army provides an update on the service’s long-term Stryker investment plan.
Navy
Lawmakers in the bill’s explanatory statement admonished Navy leadership for, what they called, a “lack of transparency” and communication with both Capitol Hill and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. The controversy is centered on an allegation from lawmakers that service leadership negotiated a significant plan with industry to bolster the Virginia-class submarine program without informing Capitol Hill or OMB.
Now, according to the statement, lawmakers are left with an expensive new supplemental funding request from the service and, they say, “few options” that will truly resolve the problems at hand and its root causes. At the time of publication, a Navy spokesman had not yet responded to a request for comment from Breaking Defense.
Related: Lawmakers admonish Navy for ‘lack of transparency’ on sub funding requests
Elsewhere in the bill, Congress is poised to impose new technical and design requirements on the Constellation-class frigate and Medium Landing Ship programs before either can proceed. While the prohibitions are unlikely to halt either program, the detailed requirements reflect increased congressional interest in both endeavors.
The Medium Landing Ship is a relatively new program that the Marine Corps says will be crucial to any island hopping campaign in the Indo Pacific. Constellation class is a more advanced program that has gotten the personal attention of the Navy Secretary — and numerous lawmakers — following significant delays that are already putting it years behind schedule.
Lawmakers also appear to agree with the Navy’s move to delay spending for its next-gen fighter, as the bill would not alter the service’s funding request of $454 million — roughly a billion dollars less than previous projections. Asked last month about the status of FA/AX, a spokesperson said “All we can comment on regarding this is that we have received proposals and they are being evaluated.”
Space
The biggest takeaway from Space is that the NDAA approves the Air Force’s plan to transfer Air National Guard members to full time Space Force, without seeking the approval of governors. The National Governors Association already is out protesting the move, which they describe as “deeply concerning and breaks with more than a century of important precedent surrounding state’s rights – as well as a violation of federal law.”
The NDAA also approves the creation of the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR), and gives the Air Force Secretary — and notably, not the National Reconnaissance Office — milestone authority for space-based ground moving target systems.
It also elevates authority for the Contractor Watch List to Frank Calvelli, in his role as Space Acquisition Executive, and requires the Defense Secretary to designate a senior official “to be responsible for a national integrated air and missile defense architecture for the United States.”
Cyber
Congress’s plans to study a potential independent cyber force have been scaled back in the final NDAA language.
Prior drafts of the bill called specifically for an evaluation of a separate cyber force conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine — shortened to the “National Academies” in the bill language. However, Saturday’s compromise language was vaguer, calling only for the assessment of “cyber organizations” instead of a separate cyber service — an important change, as advocates of a future cyber force had been hoping to hang their argument off of a report from the academies.
The idea of an independent cyber force has long been a point of contention within the DoD, as the Pentagon formally requested that lawmakers shut down a legislative proposal that would mandate an independent assessment of the establishment of a separate cyber service back in September, three sources familiar with the matter told Breaking Defense at the time.
The final draft language comes after Texas Republicans Rep. Pat Fallon and Rep. Morgan Luttrell authored the amendment in a draft version of the 2025 NDAA that called for the independent third-party study to help lawmakers and DoD leaders determine if a separate cyber force is necessary. Fallon told Breaking Defense last month that the study could be cause for the upcoming administration to stand up a cyber force.
“Incumbent on the results of the commission, which I think will affirm the need for a cyber service, I believe there’s a good chance we will see [a cyber service] come to fruition in soon. The Trump administration has shown that they will not put up with the status quo, and will opt for bold action, if necessary, especially when US national security is at risk,” Fallon said.
Reporting from Theresa Hitchens, Valerie Insinna, Justin Katz, Michael Marrow, Aaron Mehta, Ashley Roque and Carley Welch was used in this story
CORRECTION 12/10/2 at 1:45 p.m.: This story has been updated to state that the House plans to vote on the NDAA on Wednesday.
