Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

4. Department of Defense · Notable · Needs Congress

Prioritize procurement of THAAD, SM-3, and Patriot regional missile defenses

Done

126 4. Department of Defense

“The U.S. should prioritize procurement of more regional defense systems such as Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), Standard Missile-3, and Patriot missiles.”

What has happened

  1. Done

    The FY2026 NDAA prioritized the three systems by name and by money. Sec. 141(b)(1) authorizes multiyear procurement contracts beginning in FY2026 for SM-3 Block IB, THAAD (up to seven program years) and PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (up to seven program years) - the instrument that locks in higher rates at lower unit cost. The funding table then adds to each: THAAD rises from a $523,125,000 request to $1,237,689,000, an increase of $714,564,000 marked "THAAD additional quantities"; Aegis BMD procurement gains $400,000,000 to "Maximize SM-3 IB production line"; SM-3 IIA is funded at $444,835,000; and the Army accounts carry a $366,000,000 PAC-3 MSE missile increase and $173,620,000 of Patriot modifications on top of a $757,800,000 Patriot modifications line.

  2. Done

    The reconciliation act (P.L. 119-21) put procurement money against all three families the Quote names, in the terms it uses for them: sec. 20004 appropriates $200,000,000 to accelerate Army medium-range air and missile defense interceptors (the Patriot family), $167,000,000 for additional launchers for them, $65,000,000 to integrate them with Navy ships, $350,000,000 for production of Navy long-range air and missile defense interceptors with $93,000,000 for replacement and $103,300,000 for depot-level maintenance capacity, and $65,000,000 to expand production capacity for Missile Defense Agency long-range anti-ballistic missiles.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

Requires-Congress ask; done, because it was enacted. This is the clearest enactment on pages 126-127: the Quote names three systems and Congress gave all three multiyear procurement authority plus explicit quantity increases in the same Act.

  • The authorization table’s marked increases (“THAAD additional quantities”, “Maximize SM-3 IB production line”) are what carry done rather than partial: they are Congress prioritizing procurement of the named systems, which is the ask in its own words.
Action
expand
Object
regional missile defense systems (THAAD, SM-3, Patriot)
ID
264