Congress sets Pentagon research, development, test and evaluation spending at $141B

Defense Department officials finally know how much money they’ll receive for research, development, test and evaluation this fiscal year after lawmakers passed legislation that will fund federal agencies through the end of September.

RDT&E money helps fund next-generation capabilities for the U.S. military in many critical technology areas such as trusted AI and autonomy; space; integrated sensing and cyber; integrated network systems of systems; renewable energy generation and storage; microelectronics; human-machine interfaces; advanced materials; directed energy; advanced computing and software; hypersonics; biotech; quantum; and wireless tech (FutureG), among others.

The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 was signed into law Saturday by President Donald Trump after the House and Senate passed the bill last week. Prior to that, the federal government had been operating under temporary continuing resolutions.

The legislation, which funds the government through the remainder of the fiscal year, sets spending levels for Pentagon RDT&E accounts in 2025 at about $141 billion — approximately $2 billion less than the Biden administration had requested and $7 billion less than the department received for those activities in fiscal 2024.

The Army’s share of the RDT&E funding is approximately $14.3 billion, the Navy’s $26 billion, the Air Force’s $46.8 billion and the Space Force’s $18.6 billion. Defensewide RDT&E accounts will get $35.2 billion, and nearly $350 million will go toward operational test and evaluation, according to the legislation.

The Pentagon’s RDT&E funding is about 15 percent of the $892.5 billion topline for national defense that Congress just approved for fiscal 2025.

In recent years, “DOD has consistently started the fiscal year under a CR, which typically extends funding for programs at the level appropriated in the previous fiscal year and does not fund ‘new start’ programs,” Seamus Daniels, a fellow for defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote last week before the Senate approved the appropriations bill that had been passed by the House.

“However, DOD has never operated for a complete fiscal year under a CR. The House bill calls for a full-year CR but outlines unique provisions for defense spending not typical under a standard CR. It specifies amounts for defense appropriations accounts for FY 2025, adjusting funding above or below FY 2024 levels, and provides DOD with significantly greater flexibility to spend those funds than it would typically have under a CR,” he added.

Unlike typical CRs that generally prohibit “new starts,” the bill that Congress passed last week provides authorities for the DOD to initiate new programs if they meet certain requirements, according to a summary of the legislation.