The U.S. military’s top officer said Wednesday that the Pentagon needs Congress to approve a defense budget as the department negotiates deals with weapons makers to rapidly expand munitions production.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stopped short of discussing the Pentagon’s recent munitions agreements specifically. But his comments come as the department is striking ambitious, long-term deals with defense companies whose production goals depend on funding Congress has yet to provide.
Asked about President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion budget request for 2027 on stage at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Tech Expo in Washington, D.C., Caine said the military needs money to “procure, field, train and operate” the weapons and other capabilities it’s seeking.
“The $1.5 trillion configuration, that’s a political decision for our policymakers,” Caine said. “But you know we support that and need that capital to make sure that the deals that the department is negotiating with a wide range of not only NDIA members but broader industry members — is essential.”
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The stakes are especially high after six months of war with Iran depleted U.S. missile stockpiles that experts have warned are inadequate for a potential conflict with China and will take years to restore. But the administration’s budget is under strain for this year, with next year’s plans facing an uncertain path through Congress.
The Pentagon announced framework agreements last month with Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics that are intended to lead to seven-year purchasing contracts for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile interceptors.
The agreements are meant to give companies confidence that the government will keep buying weapons for years, incentivizing investments in factories, equipment, workers and suppliers.
Under the agreements, the Pentagon wants to triple Patriot missile production and quadruple production capacity for THAAD missile interceptors. But the department said when it announced the deals that the increases would remain subject to Congress approving the money each year.
Other such deals include the framework agreement with RTX setting annual production goals of more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles and at least 1,900 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles. Those framework agreements are not funded contracts either.
The administration’s production push still depends on a Congress that has been struggling to agree on how to finance the defense buildup. The administration made $350 billion of its budget request in reconciliation, a special process that allows legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes generally needed to overcome a filibuster.
The House in July narrowly approved a fiscal 2027 budget resolution that would allow Republicans to write a roughly $95 billion reconciliation package. It provides instructions for about $60 billion in Pentagon spending, plus $13 billion for intelligence programs — far short of the administration’s request.
That proposal has struggled in the Senate, where there isn’t sufficient Republican support. And Congress, which is in a partisan deadlock over regular appropriations, approved a stopgap this month to keep government funding at current levels through Dec. 11.
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