U.S. and Allied aircraft conduct an elephant walk on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, July 19, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael Cossaboom)
WASHINGTON — When the Pentagon released its $849.8 billion fiscal 2025 budget request on March 11, department officials were clear that they felt Congressionally imposed budget caps meant tough choices had to be made.
However, in Washington, the president’s budget request is just the first stage of negotiations. And for the military services and key offices within the DoD, there is a legal requirement that they submit to the Hill what are known as Unfunded Priorities Lists (UPLs) — effectively, a rundown of key programs that they would ask Congress to fund, should Congress decide to throw more money at the department.
These lists, despite being mandated by Congress, are not released publicly. They do, however, tend to leak out quickly once they arrive in lawmakers’ inboxes. Over the last few days, Breaking Defense has collected and reported on a number of these unfunded lists, which have so far topped $10 billion collectively.
Below are links to our coverage, which will be updated as more unfunded requests come out.
INDOPACOM and NORTHCOM: Guam defense tops INDOPACOM’s unfunded priorities, NORTHCOM wants more IT
SOUTHCOM: In $323M wishlist, SOUTHCOM wants money to counter Chinese influence, drugs in South America
SPACECOM: SPACECOM wants $1.2B in FY25 for ‘unfunded priorities,’ most classified
CENTCOM and Army: Army, CENTCOM ask Congress for spending jump for counter-drone mission
Marine Corps: Marine Corps hands lawmakers $2.4 billion service ‘wishlist’ for next year
Navy: Topping Navy’s $2.2B unfunded list: Sub industrial base, Guam infrastructure repairs
Air Force: Air Force wishlist seeks additional $3.5B for spares, construction and Pacific maneuvers
Space Force: Space Force’s unfunded wishlist comes to $1.15B, including several classified programs
Undersecretary of Research & Engineering: Classified tech, LongShot drone lead R&E unfunded list
TRANSCOM and CYBERCOM: Both combatant commands declined to ask for any additional funds.
Of course, there’s plenty more the Breaking Defense team has written up about the FY25 budget request. You can find a roundup, broken down by service, by clicking right here — or you can see all our ongoing FY25 budget coverage at our landing page by clicking here.