Army Leaders Detail FY27 Budget Request Before Senate Armed Services Committee

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2026 — Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Acting Secretary of the Army Stephen Murray presented the service's fiscal year 2027 budget request to the Senate Armed Services Committee today.

The request totals $189.3 billion for the Army, according to the Department of Defense release. It covers active-duty forces of 450,000 soldiers, 325,000 Army National Guard members and 175,000 Army Reserve personnel. The budget allocates $58.2 billion to procurement, $32.4 billion to research development test and evaluation, and $78.1 billion to operations and maintenance.

The proposal increases funding for long-range precision fires by 18 percent over the fiscal 2026 enacted level while reducing modernization spending on selected legacy armored vehicles by $1.4 billion. It also funds 12 new infantry brigade combat teams to reach a total of 62 active and reserve component brigade combat teams by the end of fiscal 2028.

These shifts take effect with the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1 2026.

The changes require the Army to submit updated acquisition strategies for affected programs to Congress by Aug. 15 2026. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees must then incorporate the revised figures into their fiscal 2027 defense spending bills before Sept.

30 2026. Pentagon comptroller officials will next reconcile the Army request with the Navy and Air Force submissions to produce the final Defense Department FY27 budget submission to Congress.

This marks the third consecutive year the Army has requested growth in long-range fires funding. The service first accelerated the program in the fiscal 2023 budget request submitted in April 2022 under the previous administration. Congress has separately advanced legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that directs the Army to field the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon by the end of calendar year 2027.