FY27 Budget Request

The Department of the Navy on April 21 asked Congress for $377.5 billion for fiscal 2027, the service’s biggest year-over-year jump in this budget cycle. (navy.mil) The Navy said the request is more than $70 billion above the prior year and 23% higher than fiscal 2026. It tied the increase to a new “Golden Fleet Initiative” built around shipbuilding, modernization and readiness. (navy.mil) The request includes $65.8 billion for shipbuilding to buy 34 ships and $34.4 billion for aircraft to buy 123 aircraft, according to the service’s April 21 release. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget Rear Adm. Ben Reynolds said the ship total includes 18 battle-force ships and 16 auxiliary ships. (navy.mil) The ship list includes one Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine, two Virginia-class attack submarines, one Constellation-class frigate identified in the release as “FF(X),” one Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and one America-class amphibious assault ship. It also includes six Medium Landing Ships, two John Lewis-class oilers, two submarine tender replacements and one ocean surveillance ship. (navy.mil) Aircraft money would buy 47 F-35s, 12 P-8A maritime patrol planes, six E-2D airborne early-warning aircraft, 22 CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters, three MQ-25 refueling drones and five MQ-9A drones. The request also continues incremental funding for the Ford-class carriers CVN-80 and CVN-81. (navy.mil) The budget puts heavy weight on keeping today’s fleet operating while paying for a larger future one. The Navy said it wants $150 billion for operations and maintenance and tied that account to an 80% “combat surge ready” posture for ships and aircraft. (navy.mil) That emphasis follows a period of fleet shrinkage at the margins. The Navy announced in February that it plans to retire 13 ships in fiscal 2026, including two Ticonderoga-class cruisers, one Los Angeles-class submarine, one littoral combat ship and three Henry J. Kaiser-class oilers. (seapowermagazine.org) The fiscal 2027 request also arrives after Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said in February that the coming shipbuilding plan could more than double the prior year’s ship count and lean harder on auxiliary vessels. USNI News reported on April 3 that the $65.8 billion shipbuilding request is among the largest Navy shipbuilding asks since the early 1960s. (news.usni.org 1) (news.usni.org 2) Secretary Phelan said the submission is “strategy-driven,” and the Navy said it was shaped by his priorities on shipbuilding, the maritime industrial base, warfighter culture, and sailor and Marine quality of life. Congress now decides how much of the April 21 request survives the annual authorization and appropriations process. (navy.mil)