In 2026, the US defense budget grew, exhibiting an annual growth rate of 14.1%. The allocated budget for 2026 is $1.05 trillion ($1.05 trillion), an increase from the previous year's $921 billion. The current budget reflects a rise from 2022, when foreign policy challenges became of greater importance to the Biden administration. This expansion was prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East, and persistent tensions with China over territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific region. The Trump administration now seeks to grow the defense budget further, perhaps as high as $1.5 trillion, to strengthen America’s military posture. A defense budget jump to $1.50 trillion ($1.5 trillion) would represent a 42.8% increase in defense spending, though narrow Republican majorities in Congress raises questions about the future of the budget
Key Highlights
- NATO's new spending target, America's global power projection, and strategic competition with China are all driving American defense expenditure
- Major ongoing procurement program include procurement of the F-35, Golden Dome, and Virginia-class
Report Scope
This report offers a detailed analysis of United States' defense market, with market size forecasts covering the next five years. It also offers insights into the strategy, security environment and defense market dynamics of the country. Various sections covered in the report are as follows:- Defense Budget Assessment: This chapter covers the defense budgeting process, market size forecasts, drivers of expenditure, and allocation analysis. It also examines key market trends and insights.
- Military Doctrine and Security Environment: Detailed analysis of military doctrine, strategic alliances, geopolitical dynamics, and the political, social, and economic factors influencing the security environment.
- Market Entry Strategy and Regulations: This section elaborates on essential aspects of procurement policy and market regulations, market entry routes, key defense procurement bodies and major deals.
- Market attractiveness and emerging opportunities: It evaluates the attractiveness of various defense sectors, indicating cumulative market value, and highlights the top sectors and defense segments by value in the country.
- Defense Platforms Import and Export Dynamics: Provides an understanding of the defense platform imports and exports of the country from 2017 to 2024. Both imports and exports of the country are provided in terms of value ($M) and volume (units), categorized by country and sector.
- Defense Platform Acquisitions: It offers an overview of defense platform acquisitions by value. It lists current defense procurement schedules for the major ongoing and planned military platforms that have been formulated in the country and elaborates on the reasons leading to the procurement of the same.
- Fleet Size: Outlines the current fleet sizes of the Army, Air Force, and Navy, detailing the year of acquisition, units in service, and the prime contractor for the equipment.
- Competitive Landscape: Profiles the main defense companies operating in the country, offering insights into their business overviews, latest contracts, and financial results.
Reasons to Buy
- Determine prospective investment areas based on a detailed trend analysis of the United States defense market over the next five years
- Gain in-depth understanding about the underlying factors driving demand for different defense and internal security segments in the United States market and identify the opportunities offered.
- Strengthen your understanding of the market in terms of demand drivers, market trends, and the latest technological developments, among others
- Identify the major threats that are driving the United States defense market providing a clear picture about future opportunities that can be tapped, resulting in revenue expansion
- Channel resources by focusing on the ongoing programs that are being undertaken by the United States government
- Make correct business decisions based on in-depth analysis of the competitive landscape consisting of detailed profiles of the top defense equipment providers in the country. The company profiles also includes information about the key products, alliances, recent contract awarded, and financial analysis, wherever available
Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Budgetary Assessment
- Market Data
- Key Dynamics
- Defense Budget Assessment
- Budgeting Process
- Market Size
- Defense Budget Analysis
- Expenditure Breakdown 2022-2031 ($ Billion)
- Defense Budget Size: Real and Nominal GDP
- Drivers, Trends, and Political Environment
- Drivers And Strategy
- Strategic Alliances and Geopolitics
- Market Entry Strategy And Regulations
- Defense Procurement Bodies
- Trade Associations and Defense Clusters
- Funding Opportunities
- Contracting
- How Procurement Procedures are Decided
- National Procurement Procedures
- Procurement Reform
- Key Regulations
- Market Dynamics
- Market Attractiveness
- Deals and Investment Landscape
- Market Attractiveness By Defense Sector
- Top Three Sectors
- Top Defense Segments By Value
- Import and Export Dynamics
- Defense Platform Imports
- Defense Platform Exports
- Defense Platform Acquisitions
- Defense Platform Acquisitions By Value
- Top Platforms
- Fleet Size
- Army
- Air Force
- Navy
- Competitive Landscape
- Defense Companies Headquartered In the United States
- Further Reading
- About This Report
Companies Mentioned (Partial List)
A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes, but is not limited to:
- The Boeing Co
- RTX Corp
- Lockheed Martin Corp
- General Dynamics Corp
- General Electric Co
- Northrop Grumman Corp
- Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co
- Collins Aerospace
- Pratt & Whitney Co
- GE Aviation
- L3Harris Technologies Inc
- Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems
- Leidos Holdings Inc
- BAE Systems Inc
- Textron Inc
- Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
- Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc
- Honeywell Aerospace
- Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems
- TransDigm Group Inc
- Howmet Aerospace Inc
- Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (Inactive)
- Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc
- StandardAero Inc
- Finmeccanica North America Inc. (Inactive)
- Abaco Systems Inc
- HEICO Corp
- V2X Inc
- Bell Textron Inc.
- Raytheon Network Centric Systems (Inactive)
- Leonardo DRS Inc
- Woodward Inc
- AAR Corp
- Axon Enterprise Inc
- Vista Outdoor Inc
- PAE Inc
- Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc
- Panasonic Avionics Corporation
- Vought Aircraft Industries
- Inc. (Inactive)
- The Aerospace Corp
- Cirrus Aircraft Ltd
- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc
- Triumph Group Inc
- Doss Aviation Inc
- Astronics Corp
- Ducommun Inc
- AeroVironment Inc
- Kaman Corp
- Willis Lease Finance Corp
- Cadre Holdings Inc

