“It’s gonna slow us down, and the threat is not slowing down, so we have to continue to get after that,” Space Force Gen. Douglass Schiess told reporters on Sept. 15 — a blunt assessment of what a continuing resolution (CR) will do to hundreds of Department of Defense efforts now queued to start.
How the continuing resolution froze more than 150 “new starts”
The federal government began the new fiscal year under a CR that prevents the Pentagon from beginning funding for programs labeled as “new starts.” A search of fiscal 2027 procurement and RDT&E budget documents turned up over 150 entries identified as new starts. Breaking Defense noted that Pentagon budget documents can contain errors, but the search provides a sense of scope: multiple services face delays across drones, hypersonics, shipbuilding and large software efforts.
Golden Dome and the DAWG: Pentagon-wide programs at risk
Golden Dome, described in the budget as a national air defense shield and one of President Donald Trump’s signature defense priorities, was to receive $17.5 billion in FY27 under the administration’s plan. Less than $400 million of that total appears in the base budget; the remainder was tied to reconciliation funding. Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein warned that “if they don’t figure it out, there’s no Golden Dome, because there is no funding” and that “Without continued funding, Golden Dome will stop with everything we’ve already built and delivered.”
Another Pentagon-wide effort hit by the pause is the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), which absorbs the Replicator initiative to acquire thousands of low-cost, attritable drones for the Indo-Pacific. The FY27 request tallied $54.6 billion for R&D — $1 billion in the base and $53.6 billion from reconciliation — representing a 24,070 percent increase over FY26 DAWG spending. Without an enacted appropriations bill and no reconciliation package, leaders say DAWG ambitions will likely be scaled back substantially.
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End the scrambleArmy: 29 new starts — from HADES to ammunition plants
The Army lists 29 new starts in its FY27 documents — 17 procurement and 12 RDT&E. Notable procurement new starts include two lines for the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES): $131.7 million for platform and system integration and $15.3 million for micro-high altitude balloons and payloads. The service also sought $21 million to buy 34 heavy variants of the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV); the Army awarded Other Transaction Authority agreements in July to three vendors to provide three prototype variants each by March 30, 2027.
Other Army procurement items include unmanned ground systems, general engineering support and a $145 million new start for work at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. RDT&E new starts include $921.9 million for THAAD, $132.1 million for the AN/TPY-2 sensor and $108.1 million for M-SHORAD Increment 4. The Army also reclassified Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) funds from procurement into RDT&E; because FLRAA has received RDT&E funding in multiple years, it is not counted as a new start and therefore is not stalled by the CR.
Navy and Marine Corps: battleship, tenders, tankers and hypersonics
Budget documents show roughly 17 Navy and Marine Corps new starts affected. The Navy’s Trump-class battleship request includes about $1 billion in advance procurement and roughly $837 million in R&D in FY27, with a planned $17 billion procurement request for the first ship in FY28. The budget language describes the battleship as designed to “deliver high-volume, long-range offensive fires and serve as a robust, survivable forward command and control platform.”
The Navy is also seeking $4.4 billion for two submarine tenders to support Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines and future classes. A $450 million new start would buy a bulk fuel vessel in FY27 (with a second planned in FY28); documents note consideration of foreign shipbuilding designs and operation under Military Sealift Command to enable consolidated replenishment (CONSOL) operations so fleet oilers can remain on station longer. The Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic missile program requested $750 million in FY27 to purchase the first 12 weapons, with plans to adapt Zumwalt-class vertical launch systems and include CPS on some Virginia-class submarines.
Air Force: roughly 100 new starts, including major hypersonic programs
Across procurement and RDT&E, the Air Force lists roughly 100 new starts that will be affected. Small efforts — communications upgrades and post-production mods — sit alongside larger priorities. The ARRW hypersonic glide weapon was set to begin a second research increment in FY27; an air-launched ballistic missile effort and the HACM hypersonic cruise missile were also slated to start. The Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) program would kick off development of an Air Force Long Range Missile in FY27.
The Air Force planned to begin Looking Glass – Next, taking over airborne command-post duties for launching ground-based missiles. Rapid fielding of the Next Generation Survival Radio to replace the Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) was designated a new start for FY27; budget documents noted that need may be underscored by the rescue of an F-15 aircrew downed in Iran earlier this year. The Large Aircraft Survivability System (LASS) active-defense effort and a single C-37 procurement for executive airlift were also slated to begin. Officials warned that Collaborative Combat Aircraft production will be constrained without FY27 production funding: “You can’t go do production without production funding,” Brig. Gen. Timothy Helfrich said.
Space Force programs: software fabric, satellites and TENCAP
The Space Force sought $71 billion for FY27 overall and identified nine new starts. The largest is the Autonomous Tactical Fabric: $1.5 billion in FY27 and $6.8 billion through 2031 to “create a common, defined, consistent operating system to maximize data sharing by unifying and integrating any sensor to any effector via any transport.” Other new starts include $196 million for Resilient Ground Architecture; $37.9 million for a Commercial Geostationary EO/IR project aimed at timely forecasting for Indo-Pacific and Central Commands; and $10.6 million to start a Space Force TENCAP program to exploit national systems’ sensor data for space-domain operations and deliver operational prototypes within two years.
On the procurement side, the Space Force proposed $350 million to build and equip four relocatable facilities for operations centers, $2 million for a deployable SCIF, almost $140 million in advanced procurement for Evolved Strategic SATCOM third- and fourth-satellite long-lead items, and $8.9 million to procure one BH‑Secondary unit to geolocate electromagnetic interference sources.
The CR runs through Dec. 11, and there is no guarantee programs can start once it expires — Congress could pass another CR or face a shutdown. Connecticut Sen. Chris Coons, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, warned lawmakers are likely to be in “a mad dash to try and avoid a full-year CR” and said there may be “somewhere between a $500 [billion] and $700 billion gap between what the Pentagon is planning on and continuing to insist on, and what they will actually get in appropriations.” The immediate result: more than 150 new starts remain in limbo, from tactical radios to national missile defenses, while leaders weigh how much of their FY27 agendas can be salvaged if appropriations are not resolved.
