The Air Force wants to funnel $1.4 billion into air base defense with new weapon systems designed to protect homeland installations and forward-deployed airfields against drones and missile threats, Air Force budget officials said April 21.
The service’s $267.7 billion fiscal 2027 budget plan earmarks a $1.3 billion procurement increase over approved 2026 spending for the Air Base Air Defense Systems, or ABADS, according to budget documents released April 21. The plan shows recognition of the growing threats to air bases from drones and other low-cost threats proven during the Russia-Ukraine war and the need for new defenses to protect against them.
Overall, the Pentagon is seeking approval to invest $56.6 billion for Drone Dominance—including $39.2 billion for “multiyear investment in autonomous systems procurement, domestic production capacity, and advanced capabilities.” Also included: $14.4 billion for counter-drone technology, according to Defense Department budget documents.
Base defense systems include two solutions—the Small Unmanned Aircraft Defense System, or SUADS, and its counter-missile variant, ABADS. The first employs electronic warfare technologies and a command-and-control system to detect, track, and defeat small enemy drones. The second detects incoming missiles with the Army Long-Range Persistent Surveillance System and a separate tasking system to defeat them.
“This investment is fundamental to our core mission of defending the homeland and protecting our forward-deployed assets,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Frank R. Verdugo, the Department of the Air Force’s top uniformed budget official. The “substantial increase [would] ensure our forces can operate securely from anywhere in the world.”
In addition to those systems, the Air Force wants $85.3 million for research, development, test and evaluation to develop new base defense technology, up from $69.7 million in fiscal 2026, per budget documents.
The $1.4 billion request for ABADS is substantially more than the service asked for or received in fiscal 2026, but it remains unclear exactly how much was spent on those programs in prior years. In the 2026 budget rollout, the Air Force said it was requesting $518 million for ABADS between the base budget and reconciliation, plus $318 million for the missile defense system. Based on Air Force statements, however, only about $100 million was approved. A request for clarification was not answered by press time.
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