The largest defense budget in US history: almost no Israelis

● In the US they admire: this is how Israel upgraded the American fighter jets
● 8 times the previous round: how much did the “Harry’s Roar” war cost the USA?

Israel is not expected to benefit from significant aspects of these amounts, when the effects of Washington’s policy are evident. This is despite the fact that companies such as Elbit, the Aerospace Industry and Rafael have a foothold in the US and therefore their subsidiaries are considered American.

The effect of the war in Iran

An interesting issue is that Israel has an influence on the procurement plans, due to the American military’s extensive use of anti-aircraft missiles as part of Harry’s Roar. Thus, among other things, the procurement plan includes 857 Lockheed Martin THAAD interceptors (compared to only 31 in 2026), 136 Raytheon SM-3 interceptors launched from naval AEGIS systems (compared to 12 in 2026), and 3,163 interceptors Lockheed Martin PAC-3 Patriot (compared to 357 in 2026).

A typical challenge for Washington, in contrast to Israel, is the cost of the armaments, which are significantly higher: the THAAD interceptor is estimated at about 12.7 million dollars, the SM-3 at about 28 million dollars, and the Patriot PAC-3 at about 4.2 million dollars. This is much higher than the Israeli systems for intercepting ballistic missiles, since the Arrow 3 and Arrow 2 interceptors are valued respectively at about 3 million dollars and about 1.5 million dollars.

“On paper”, the Republican Party has a majority in both houses of Congress: 218 against 213 in the House of Representatives, and 53 against 47 in the Senate. However, in the president’s party there are members of Congress who are reluctant to agree to his budget requests, as what affects their decision-making is the way the US president conducted himself when it comes to the war with Iran, including budgetary aspects.

Yikki Dayan, former consul of Israel in Los Angeles, explains that Trump wants to pass the defense budget before the mid-term elections in November, along with an additional 200 billion dollars following the war in Iran. “Currently, all the Republican members of Congress have aligned themselves with Trump. The Democrats wanted to pass an ‘Act of War’ (according to the Constitution, Congress is the one authorized in the US to declare war, within the framework of the “Act of War” to limit the right to go to it, D.S.A.), but the Republicans presented almost complete unity.

“The big question is whether Trump will succeed in this also in the defense budget. His main problem is the Republicans in races in swing states. He will work hard because the large majority will go with him, but because of the narrow advantage in the House of Representatives and the Senate, a few defections are enough to lose it.”

“golden dome” vision

The government’s budget proposal also includes long-term investments, the most prominent of which is related to air defense and fighter planes. For the benefit of the “golden dome” vision of futuristic air defense, including space-based, Trump and his people want to allocate an additional 17.5 billion dollars in 2027. This is a particularly high amount, because in the strategic defense initiative the “Star Wars” project of President Reagan in 1983, about 25 billion dollars were invested before it was shelved within a few years.

At the same time, the administration wants to significantly increase the annual investment in the development of the sixth generation aircraft from 1.5 billion dollars to 5 billion dollars. The F-47 is expected to replace the F-22 as the air superiority aircraft of the USA, with the main meaning being that, like the F-22, the USA is not expected to sell it to any country.

Sixth generation fighter jets are expected to be operational only in the next decade, but it is already known, among other things, that they will take artificial intelligence and stealth capabilities to the limit. As part of their unique set of features, the high speed is also included. The development of the engines intended for the sixth generation aircraft may bring them to a speed of about Mach 2.5-2.2. For the purpose of comparison, the most advanced F-35 planes that the Israeli Air Force has, reach a speed of Mach 1.6.

Meanwhile, the administration is interested in purchasing 85 additional F-35 aircraft and 24 F-15EX aircraft in 2027. After in December the USA approved the sale of 25 F-15IA aircraft manufactured by Boeing to Israel for approximately 8.5 billion dollars (and 25 in an option).

The war in Iran is also taking its toll on the American aircraft fleet. At the end of March, the Islamic Republic managed to damage the E-3 Sentri air warning and control plane – whose price is estimated at about 300 million dollars. Alongside this, the Iranians also managed to intercept fighter jets, including the F-15E, which led to the famous navigator rescue operation.

Eyes are on Beijing

Trump’s significant long-term concern is not Iran, but China. This significantly dominates the global shipbuilding industry, which, on the other hand, has been neglected for years in the USA. Therefore, the Navy is asking for approximately 65.8 billion dollars to purchase 34 ships. This is a record budget for the American shipyards since 1962 adjusted for inflation, according to the USNI. Of these, 18 units are “combat force” – aircraft carriers, submarines, and large battleships.

“In the American perception of threats, China is first and foremost,” Dayan concludes. “The race to space is about China, the fight against AI is about the environment, and so is the shipyards. There is another aspect, most of the countries in the US where the shipyards are Republican, so if the budget does pass, it guarantees many jobs, and significant profits for those countries. It will be difficult for a member of Congress to oppose a large budget that is guaranteed to his country.”