Big Pentagon Spending on Next Generation Weapons.
Big money
The Pentagon's Big Spending Spree on Next-Gen Weapons
The Pentagon is on a mission to rapidly modernize and upgrade its arsenal of weapons to prepare for potential future conflicts with near-peer adversaries like China and Russia.
Over the next 12 months alone, the Department of Defense plans to spend an extra $37.2 billion to procure a range of high-tech, next-generation weapons to counter emerging threats.
This spending splurge comes from the Pentagon's massive $750 billion annual budget. It reflects a sense of urgency within the defense establishment to field cutting-edge capabilities like hypersonics, directed energy, unmanned systems and integrated network technologies before China or Russia can match or surpass American technological superiority on the battlefield.
The three military departments – the Army, Navy and Air Force – have been moving quickly over the past month to award significant contracts related to next-gen weapons programs. Here is a rundown of some of the most significant contracts approved recently:
Army Next-Gen Weapons Contracts. $2.2 billion
The Army awarded a bundle of contracts worth $2.2 billion to several defense contractors to accelerate the development of next-generation missile and weapons systems over the coming years. The goal is to arm soldiers with high-tech capabilities to outmatch Russian and Chinese adversaries.
Some of the major contracts included:
$667 million to Raytheon Technologies for continued research and development on cutting-edge hypersonic weapons that can travel over five times the speed of sound.
$432 million to Lockheed Martin to design and manufacture a sophisticated new missile capable of changing direction mid-flight to evade enemy defenses.
$355 million to Northrop Grumman to develop a new "Cyber and Electronic Warfare Capability" to protect soldiers against hacking and jamming attacks.
$347 million to General Dynamics for the next phase of development for the Army's Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System – advanced drones that can carry out risky reconnaissance missions without putting pilots in harm's way.
Air Force Next-Gen Weapons Contracts $950 million awarded to Air Force awarded close to $1 billion worth of contracts related to next-generation technologies that will enable the U.S. to counter China and Russia's expanding capabilities in space and cyberspace:
$700 million to L3Harris Technologies and Airbus U.S. Space & Defense for design and integration work on protected satellite communications terminals. This equipment would make it much harder for America's adversaries to jam, hack or turn off U.S. military satellites.
$250 million to Raytheon Intelligence & Space for upgrades to the Air Force's surveillance capabilities in space, including next-gen electro-optical infrared sensors that can track the development of foreign missile threats.
The Air Force sees these contracts as vital investments to defend America's interests in the space domain. China and Russia are developing anti-satellite weapons and other counter-space technologies to target U.S. advantages.
Navy Next-Gen Weapons Contracts ($350 million awarded.
The Navy awarded $350 million worth of contracts on July 19 related to unmanned vessels and the growing use of artificial intelligence in maritime operations:
$231 million to Huntington Ingalls Industries to design and build the Navy's first unmanned surface vessel capable of operating autonomously for up to 90 days on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
$119 million to IBM to develop artificial intelligence tools for coordinating the manned and unmanned systems that will comprise the Navy's integrated battle networks of the future.
The shift towards autonomous ships and AI decision-making tools are critical pillars of the Navy's plan to adopt next-generation technologies to project power more effectively against rivals like China while keeping sailors and marines safer.
Ongoing spending spree with billions more expected
These contract awards from the past month represent over $3.5 billion in new investments in next-gen weapons programs across the Army, Air Force and Navy. They provide a snapshot of the Pentagon's spending spree that will see tens of billions more flood into developing game-changing capabilities for future warfare over the coming year.
Defense industry executives have emphasized that they are wholly on board with the Pentagon's increased urgency to deliver next-generation weapons as quickly as possible. Major contractors like Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are poised to be the biggest beneficiaries of the cash influx.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are actively considering proposals to bolster defense spending further through supplemental funding measures. With bipartisan support mounting on Capitol Hill for confronting Chinese and Russian military modernization head-on, the Pentagon's next-generation weapons budget seems likely to continue expanding rapidly for years to come, absent any sudden shifts in the geopolitical landscape.
The race is on to control the weapons technologies that could define supremacy on the 21st-century battlefield. The Pentagon and its contractors are betting that the U.S. can out-innovate its rivals by fielding next-gen capabilities like hypersonic missiles, autonomous drones, AI-enabled networks, and more over the next decade. Only time will tell whether those monumental investments will pay off as intended when the future weapons are finally tested.