SASC’s NDAA: Procurement, Drones, and Indo-Pacific Priorities

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, S. 2296, authorizes $913.9 billion across the Department of Defense and Department of Energy defense activities. The committee advanced the bill 26-1 in July 2025, and the full Senate passed it 77-20 on October 9, 2025, sending it toward conference with the House.¹²

What the Topline Covers

The $913.9 billion authorization breaks into $878.7 billion for the Department of Defense and $35.2 billion for the Department of Energy, which runs the nuclear weapons complex. Add $10.8 billion in defense-related activities outside the NDAA’s direct jurisdiction and the full national defense topline reaches $924.7 billion.³

The bill also grants up to $6 billion in general transfer authority so the Pentagon can shift money to higher-priority needs through normal reprogramming channels.³ One boundary matters here: the NDAA sets a ceiling and writes policy, but it does not appropriate. Actual spending comes from separate defense appropriations bills, which sometimes fund programs below the authorized level or not at all.

Where the Senate and House Differ

The two chambers produced a $21 billion gap in base defense appropriations for FY2026. The Senate set its base figure at $852.45 billion; the House came in at $831.50 billion. Senate bills typically need 60 votes to advance, which pushes the text toward bipartisan compromise, while House bills need only a simple majority and reflect the majority party’s priorities more directly.

Conferees from both chambers now negotiate a single bill. The FY2026 cycle ran late from the start: the Pentagon submitted budget justifications roughly four months past the usual February deadline, and observers identified about $10 billion in accounting discrepancies in the initial submission.

Pay, End Strength, and Family Support

A 3.8 percent pay raise for all service members took effect January 1, 2026. Congress did not pass a separate pay authorization, so the statutory default rate of 3.8 percent applied automatically, and the SASC executive summary confirms funding to support it.⁴³

Authorized active-duty end strength sits at 454,000 for the Army, 344,600 for the Navy, 172,300 for the Marine Corps, 321,500 for the Air Force, and 10,400 for the Space Force. Reserve and National Guard components add another 771,900.³

The bill extends work on childcare access and military housing quality, both persistent complaints from military families. It also continues the Basic Needs Allowance, a monthly supplement for active-duty members with dependents whose household income falls below 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines.⁵

Procurement and R&D

The bill authorizes procurement of 34 F-35A aircraft for the Air Force, up to five Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, and a block buy of up to 15 Medium Landing Ships. It also prohibits the Air Force from retiring A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft below a floor of 103 planes in FY2026.³

Missile defense procurement covers Iron Dome, the David’s Sling Weapon System, and the Arrow 3 Upper Tier Interceptor Program, all developed in cooperation with Israel.³ The final conference text allocates $146 billion for Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation, covering hypersonic weapons, advanced sensors, and artificial intelligence integration.⁶

Drones and Counter-Drone Capabilities

The bill directs the Deputy Secretary of Defense to stand up a Small-UAS Industrial Base Working Group to evaluate the domestic small-drone supplier base and recommend investments to strengthen it.⁷

On the defensive side, counter-drone procurement is centralized through a validation task force. No DOD component can buy a counter-small-UAS system unless the task force has approved it, with limited waiver authority reserved for senior acquisition officials. The joint U.S.-Israel program on countering unmanned systems expands to $70 million and now covers collaborative research, joint training exercises, and coordinated development with defense industry partners.⁷

Cyber and Artificial Intelligence

More than a dozen provisions target cyber operations and AI governance. U.S. Cyber Command must establish formal processes for planning and budgeting for the Cyber Mission Force. The bill mandates tabletop exercises to test future command-and-control models for cyberspace operations and creates a behavioral health initiative for the Cyber Mission Force.⁸

For AI, the DOD must establish a comprehensive cybersecurity and governance policy covering all artificial intelligence and machine learning systems used within the department, addressing risks that include data poisoning, jailbreaks, counterfeit components, and unauthorized access. Separate provisions require cybersecurity standards in contracts for secure mobile phones and telecommunications services used by senior officials, including encryption and continuous monitoring.⁸

Munitions and the Industrial Base

The Pentagon must now annually determine the minimum production level for each munitions variant needed to meet the total requirement and bake those levels into future budgets. Foreign military sales demand is folded into the calculation because allied purchases draw from the same production lines.³

The bill authorizes accelerated modernization of existing organic industrial base facilities and creates an Economic Defense Unit under the Deputy Secretary of Defense to coordinate economic competition efforts. It also expands the authorities of the Industrial Base Fund and allows the Office of Strategic Capital to collect fees from loan recipients, aligning its structure with other federal loan programs.³

Indo-Pacific, Europe, and Ukraine

The Pacific Deterrence Initiative budget request for FY2026 stands at $10 billion for infrastructure, exercises, and force posture improvements.⁹ The SASC bill authorizes $1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative and expands the program to cover combat casualty care and medical equipment.³

Additional Taiwan provisions direct the Secretary of Defense to pursue a joint program with Taiwan on uncrewed systems and counter-drone capabilities, including co-development and co-production. A separate provision creates a strategic partnership linking the Defense Innovation Unit with Taiwanese counterparts on drones, microchips, directed energy weapons, AI, and missile technology.¹⁰

In Europe, the bill prohibits reducing the U.S. military footprint or giving up command of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe position unless the Secretary of Defense certifies to Congress that the change serves the national interest. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Commander of U.S. European Command must independently assess the risks. Future basing decisions must factor in whether NATO partners have submitted plans to reach the agreed 5 percent of GDP defense spending target.³

The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative is extended through 2028 with authorized funding raised to $500 million. The DOD must also work with Ukraine on a depot-level maintenance plan for Western-transferred military equipment.³

DEI Repeal and Acquisition Reform

The conference text permanently repeals all existing DOD diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, programs, training, and activities, and prevents the creation of new ones. All military promotions, accessions, and command selections must be based on individual merit and demonstrated performance rather than race, ethnicity, or sex. The Congressional Budget Office estimated $40.5 million in savings from eliminating DEI activities.⁶

Beyond DEI, the SASC bill repeals or amends more than 100 statutory provisions with the stated aim of streamlining defense acquisition, reducing administrative overhead, and clearing outdated requirements. The committee described these changes as historic reforms to modernize how the Pentagon budgets and buys equipment.³

What Happens Next

With the Senate’s October 9, 2025 passage complete, the bill moves to conference with the House to reconcile the $21 billion base spending gap and differing policy provisions.² Once conferees produce a unified text, both chambers vote again before it heads to the President.

Even after enactment, the authorization numbers are not the final word on spending. Appropriations committees write separate bills that determine how much money actually flows to each program, and those figures sometimes differ from what the NDAA recommended. Programs can be authorized but never funded, or funded below the authorization. The NDAA’s durable power lies in its policy provisions: the rules, restrictions, and mandates that govern how the military operates regardless of the final dollar amounts.

1
U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. SASC Completes Markup of National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
2
Congress.gov. S 2296 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
3
U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act – Executive Summary
4
Congress.gov. Defense Primer – Military Pay Raise
5
Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Basic Needs Allowance
6
U.S. House Committee on Armed Services. FY26 NDAA Conference Text Legislative Summary
7
Congress.gov. S 1071 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
8
Congress.gov. Cyber and Artificial Intelligence Provisions in the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act
9
U.S. Department of Defense Comptroller. FY2026 Pacific Deterrence Initiative
10
Congress.gov. S 2296 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026