The Air Force is requesting about $141 million for initial enlistment bonuses in its fiscal 2026 budget, while Space Force wants $13 million.
Budget
The Air Force is requesting a $71.2 million increase in hazardous duty incentive pay for commissioned Airmen, as the service expects more officer aviators to take the bonus in fiscal year 2026.
The Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 defense budget, submitted to Congress last week, accelerates the downsizing of the U.S. Air Force. It proposes divesting 340 aircraft, while only acquiring 76. These cuts risk the Air Force’s ability to prevail.
The Senate passed Republicans’ sweeping tax-and-spending package July 1 in a 51-50 vote, the culmination of a 27-hour marathon legislative session. The package—often called the reconciliation bill—includes a $150 billion package of defense funds that accounts for a significant portion of the money the Air ...
The long-term future of one of the Space Development Agency’s two satellite constellations is on hold as officials study the options for replacing a planned “data transport layer” with one or more commercial solutions. President Trump’s proposed 2026 defense budget...
Thanks to reconciliation, the fiscal 2026 Air Force budget would get a surge of munitions procurement, but it's not yet clear if the production increase will be sustained. The Air Force revealed the secret AIM-260 air-to-air missile's funding for the first time.
The Air Force plans to cancel its program to purchase a fleet of E-7 Wedgetail airborne target-tracking jets as part of the fiscal 2026 budget, a senior defense official confirmed June 26.
The Air Force's fiscal 2026 combat aircraft budget request goes big on the new F-47 and B-21, but only buys 45 new fighters, less than half its traditional goal. The service said it can only buy what industry can make, and the desired 72 fighters ...
Buoyed mostly by extra funds earmarked for Golden Dome in the reconciliation bill being considered by Congress, the Space Force says its 2026 budget request is roughly $40 billion—an increase of more than 30 percent over 2025. Among the services, the Space Force is getting the ...
