Trump Announces $1 Trillion Defense Budget

The President of the United States has announced the approval of the largest defense budget in the country’s history, amounting to $1 trillion.

Bloomberg reported on this, citing a statement from Donald Trump.

He stated that his administration will approve the budget for 2026, which will be “the biggest we have ever done for the military.” It includes an increase in the budget from $850 billion to $1 trillion.

“We are aware of the costs, but the military is something we must build, and we must be strong because there are many bad forces out there,” Trump said at the White House on Monday during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

His words were also confirmed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who posted on his social media about the “first TRILLION dollar budget for the Department of Defense.”

The Trump administration has not yet released the budget request for the 2026 fiscal year, so the details of the potential largest defense budget remain unknown. The plan is expected to be unveiled no earlier than this spring.

However, it can already be claimed that the increase in funding will occur alongside a cost-cutting program introduced by Hegseth to reduce the department’s expenses by 8%.

In February, the secretary ordered the reduction of certain unspecified categories of Pentagon and military service expenses and the reallocation of the freed-up funds to higher-priority programs, such as missile defense.

For more details on the missile defense program, see the article “America’s ‘Iron Dome’ – The Return of ‘Star Wars’?“

Militarnyi, citing the specialized publication Military, reported on the potential reduction in defense spending through a large-scale reduction of 90,000 active-duty U.S. Army personnel.

Sources from the publication mentioned internal discussions within the Pentagon about reducing the military’s personnel to 360,000 – 420,000 servicemembers, as planned cuts to other defense programs, such as climate change initiatives, will not be sufficient to meet the set goals.

However, Hegseth’s plan does not foresee cuts to expenditures for operations on the U.S. southern border, nuclear weapons modernization, missile defense, or the procurement of kamikaze drones and munitions.

The document also notes the continuation of funding for several key regional commands, including the Indo-Pacific, Northern, and Space Commands. At the same time, European, Central, and African Commands are missing from the list.