Pentagon budget 2027: US Navy spending request seeks to bolster shipbuilding

The proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget includes increased funding for ballistic missile ships, like the Columbia-class submarine, shown here in a rendering. (US Navy)

The proposed fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget requested by the Pentagon seeks to increase shipbuilding funding for major types of vessels across the US Navy (USN) with an overall request to augment the USN Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy (known as the SCN account), by about 39%, according to documents released by the Pentagon and accessed by Janes on 6 April.

FY 2027's discretionary request for all shipbuilding is about USD60.2 billion, according to the Pentagon documents. The request also includes about USD5.6 billion in “mandatory” funding for a total of USD65.8 billion.

The documents use “mandatory” to refer to spending that could be added this fiscal year through a potential budget reconciliation process, which only requires a simple majority to pass and can obviate a Senate filibuster if the legislation meets certain requirements.

The navy's USD65.8 billion for shipbuilding in FY 2027 compares to the USD27.2 billion in discretionary spending enacted for FY2026, plus USD17.9 billion in reconciliation funding that year for a total of USD45.1 billion for FY 2026, according to the Pentagon documents.

The FY 2027 proposal includes a discretionary request for fleet ballistic missile ships of about USD15 billion, and mandatory funding of about USD205.7 million, for a total of about USD15.2 billion, the documents said. That compares to FY2026 total funding for fleet ballistic missile ships of about USD9.3 billion.