We can all breathe a sigh of relief.
On Sunday night, Congress finally released a compromise draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a breezy 3,000-page bill that authorizes a record $901B in defense spending, $8B more than the White House initially requested. The must-pass bill is headed for a vote in the coming days—lawmakers want to have it on the president’s desk before the end of the year.
Big bucks: Within that $901B, the NDAA draft authorizes $162B in procurement and $146B in Research, Development, Test, & Evaluation (RDT&E). According to a House Armed Services Committee (HASC) fact sheet, RDT&E efforts are focused on new tech, including hypersonics, AI, quantum computing, autonomous aircraft, vessels, and vehicles, directed energy systems, and new space-based capabilities.
Need for SPEED: That money is nice and all, but the draft also features a whole bunch of the SPEED Act-flavored acquisition reforms that have the industry all fired up.
- It creates a new, accelerated requirements process to expedite existing industry solutions, including requiring the DoD to look for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) tech before seeking purpose-built, exquisite systems. It also accelerates the Authority to Operate (ATO) process for rapid software adoption.
- It formalizes the shift towards centralized acquisition management programs under a single portfolio acquisitions executive (PAE). Bye-bye, PEOs.
- It cuts down compliance requirements for small businesses providing commercial technology and barriers to sourcing subscription-based services, including satellite imagery.
- Establishes the Bridging Operational Objectives & Support for Transition (BOOST) program, which aims to help bridge prototype-stage tech into acquisition programs, under the DIU.
Christmas came early, it seems.
Wishlist: On the procurement side, the NDAA draft authorizes the Pentagon to spend $162B on some fancy tech, including:
- $26B for shipbuilding, with a focus on a third Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, a Virginia-class submarine, future Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and other ships.
- Over $38B for the development and procurement of aircraft, including “full funding” for the Air Force’s F-47 and autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), and the Navy’s sixth-gen F/A-XX fighter and MQ-25 unmanned carrier-launched aircraft.
- Over $25B to a whole bunch of munitions. It also requires the SecDef to “enter into multi-year procurement contracts for munitions and other high-demand systems.”
Get some air: As expected, drone and counter-drone tech features prominently.
The draft text requires the Pentagon to create a working group to boost investment and manufacturing capacity in the small-UAS and s-UAS component industrial base. It also formally establishes the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) 401 to coordinate DoD-wide counter-drone efforts.
A bunch of President Trump’s executive orders are also made official in the draft text, including “Building the Golden Dome for America,” “Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base,” and “Unleashing American Drone Dominance.”
Hold up: This isn’t a done deal quite yet—the NDAA authorizes all these Pentagon programs, but Congress has to pass a separate spending bill to fund them for FY2026. However, if we’ve learned one thing from the six decades of consistent NDAA passage, it’s that defense spending is pretty much the one thing even the most dysfunctional Congress can agree on.