Breaking Defense has obtained a series of the Pentagon's Unfunded Priority Lists, non-public documents that outline what the services and COCOMS would do with extra money.
INDOPACOM had the biggest request of these five COCOMS, asking for nearly $12 billion in additional funding.
Cyber resilience has become a frontline mission for the US military. Breaking Defense’s new eBook rounds up key reporting from the 2025 Alamo ACE conference with the latest developments in cyber offense and defense.
The services’ unfunded requests, obtained by Breaking Defense, reflect sharp increases compared to last year.
The Navy's Unfunded Priorities List, obtained by Breaking Defense, seeks roughly $1.4 billion in funding to award a contract to industry for the F/A-XX program.
Mark Cancian and Chris Park of CSIS break down what is in this year's unfunded priority lists and what they say about the state of the US military.
After the counter-uncrewed systems, AFRICOM said it would spend another $228 million on "high-risk intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance" to shore up current "unacceptable risk" to US interests on the continent.
It's been a whirlwind of a year — and the defense establishment has plenty of thoughts on how it's unfolded and what might come next.
The annual Unfunded Priority Lists, mandated by Congress, tell lawmakers how the Pentagon would spend extra funding over the fiscal 2025 request if Congress were to grant it.
No aircraft were featured on the Air Force’s unfunded priorities list submitted to lawmakers today despite a decision to cut back on fighter procurement in FY25.
Like in its formal budget, the submarine industrial base is the top item in the Navy's annual unfunded wishlist, which also aims to replace missiles used recently in the Red Sea.
The biggest pot of money sought is for a program whose details are listed as “Description withheld. Classified topic. Materials available at higher level.”
Reducing cognitive overload on warfighters while improving “time to trust” for autonomous systems is a matter of design.
Among the unclassified programs listed, the Space Force could use an additional $160 million to establish a "working capital fund" to be used for purchasing commercial satellite communications.
The SPACECOM list includes almost $704 million for three unnamed classified programs, as well as $90 million to fund a trio of classified Navy electronic warfare-based "counterspace" capabilities.
US Southern Command laid out 20 different unfunded budget priorities for fiscal year 2025 in a 28-page list sent to Congress and obtained by Breaking Defense.
If lawmakers could free up $250 million in the FY25 budget, the service could use that to purchase two additional CH-53K helicopters, or $341 million could be used for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle 30mm Cannon (ACV-30) line.