In America: Modernizing the US Military

Filip Andrejevic

The Department of War recently requested a $1.5 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2027 (FY27). This is an unprecedented budget request aimed at modernizing the military, supporting service members, securing American defense, and revitalizing the military-industrial base. These investments appear to be especially prudent in light of developments in drone warfare in the ongoing Ukraine conflict and the US military’s own deployment of drone warfare and AI in the ongoing Iran conflict. 

Jules Hurst III, the War Department’s comptroller, commented on the budget allocation:

“The FY27 budget request will be the largest development in military capabilities in over a generation. This budget allocates over $750 billion… just in capability development and procuring weapons systems.”

The Department of War’s communique on the FY27 budget allocation indicated that this $750 billion would help pay for drone warfare capabilities, space capabilities, and investments in shipbuilding. These investments reflect a broader shift in the strategic doctrine of the US military as the focus on conventional warfare shifts to a hybrid model emphasizing inexpensive drones and integrating emergent technologies like AI into military strategy. 

The role of AI in US military doctrine is especially important to understand. Military AI is largely divided into two categories: automated weapons and decision-support systems. 

Automated weapons systems have some ability to select and engage targets on their own. A prominent example is the US’s Phalanx Close-In Weapon System. A greater fear with the use of automated weapons systems is the notion that AI would decide who lives and who dies. Lauren Kahn, a senior research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, provides some insights into this topic: 

“Right now, I think what's more insidious is that it's being integrated in places where, you know, it's hard to tell in some places where this - we're having this blurring of - to your point exactly, of where the AI starts and where the AI stops. We need to be really sensitive about where we integrate it and what places are off-limits.”

Decision-support systems provide intelligence and planning assistance to human decision-makers in the military. The US currently deploys decision-support systems such as Palantir's Maven Smart System. Decision-support systems dramatically accelerate decision-making in warfare, for better or for worse. An accelerated decision-making process can be helpful when speed is necessary; however, decision-support systems can also remove a crucial element of human deliberation throughout the process. The extent to which decision-support systems are integrated into the deliberation process also calls into question similar critiques of automated weapons systems. 

Drone warfare, another emergent technology, has also revolutionized how the US military conducts war. Integrating lessons from the ongoing Ukraine conflict and the Iran war, the US military has adopted a strategy of drone dominance. Drone dominance calls for bolstering the US drone manufacturing base, arming combat units with low-cost attack drones, and overcoming bureaucratic risk-aversion culture in drone procurement and training. Additionally, the strategy calls for the rapid purchase and investment in low-cost, American-made drones to supply the US military at scale. 

Integrating emergent technologies and strategies, such as military AI and drone dominance, is being coupled with a more traditional focus on bolstering the defense industrial base: the collection of large and small-scale private industries that supply America’s guns, bullets, ships, and airplanes. 

Part of the FY27 budget request allocates $65.8 billion for 18 battle force ships and 16 support ships for the US Navy. This budget supports the broader Golden Fleet initiative, a comprehensive plan to bolster maritime dominance by reinvesting in US shipbuilding capacity and developing a new “Trump class” battleship that serves as the anchor of this naval expansion. 

Mark F. Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), offered a critique of this initiative: 

“The Navy needs to build ships now rather than begin long development programs that will take years to produce usable capability, if they ever do. Far better to upgrade existing, proven designs and ramp up their production rates. That’s the way to reach the higher production levels that President Trump cited in his speech and to expand the U.S. presence on the world’s oceans.”

On top of these naval investments are efforts to invest directly in US servicemembers. A stated $57 billion from the FY27 budget will be invested to improve aging infrastructure, facilities, and bases used by the US military. A pay increase is also slated for service members in the grades of E-5 and below, E-6 to O-3, and O-4 and above. The largest proposed increase is for the first category, which often includes more junior-ranking or freshly enlisted service members. 

Overall, the US military is taking a multifaceted approach to modernization. Emergent technologies like drones and military AI are being integrated with lessons from ongoing conflicts in mind. At the same time, a more traditional approach to buffing up the US’s industrial base, coupled with a focus on shipbuilding, helps round out investments without putting all its eggs in one basket. Holistically, the US seeks to modernize by rebuilding its own industrial capacity to supply, develop, and build the tools and systems required to meet US goals.