"We have been talking to two different vendors as we speak right now," Secretary of the Navy John Phelan told reporters, "and then it’ll be a function of how we get through that design process with them, and then their capacity in their yards." The Navy says those conversations are part of a push to lay the keel for the first Trump-class battleship in fiscal 2028.
Design talks and an accelerated timeline
At the Sea Air Space exposition, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan confirmed the service is already engaged with two vendors on design work for the new Trump-class battleship and is aiming to move quickly. The Navy plans to request roughly $17 billion in procurement funding for the first ship in FY28, and about $13 billion in 2030 for a second hull, according to budget documents the service released.
Phelan framed the vendor talks and schedule as key to meeting a rapid production timeline: "we’re looking to really get moving on this and lay the keel in ’28." He also warned that cost estimates are preliminary and could shift based on key design choices such as whether the ship will be nuclear-powered.
Budgeting the Trump-class: R&D, advance procurement and five-year totals
The Navy expects to spend roughly $46 billion over the next five years to design and develop the Trump-class battleship. For FY27 specifically, the service is requesting approximately $1 billion in advance procurement and $837 million in research and development funds tied to the program — both items connected to the ship announced by President Donald Trump in December.
Phelan characterized the FY28 and 2030 procurement line items as initial estimates that will be "rationalized" as configuration decisions are made and economies of scale are calculated.
Shipbuilding and munitions: a broader funding surge
The battleship request arrives as part of a much larger shipbuilding push. The Navy is seeking $65.8 billion for shipbuilding in FY27 — more than double the $27.2 billion allocated for shipbuilding in the FY26 enacted budget. Of the FY27 request, roughly $60.2 billion is in the base budget and $5.6 billion comes from reconciliation funding.
The service wants to procure 34 ships in FY27, including one Columbia-class submarine, two Virginia-class submarines, one Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, one America-class amphibious assault ship, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, six medium landing ships, and one frigate. The FY27 request also lists procurement of a "Special Mission Ship" at the request of a combatant command.
Munitions funding rises sharply as well: the Navy requests 785 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles for FY27 — up from 55 the prior year — a buy that the budget documents peg at roughly $3 billion. For the first time in the FY27 request, the Navy is seeking Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors and seeks to procure more than 400. Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract for development, integration and testing of PAC-3 into the Aegis Combat System on destroyers and cruisers, the Navy said.
Capability claims and key design tradeoffs
President Donald Trump said at the December announcement that the new battleship will feature hypersonic weapons, electronic rail guns and high-powered, laser-based weaponry; those are the capability claims the FY27 request supports through the R&D and procurement lines. Rear Adm. Ben Reynolds, deputy secretary of the Navy for budget, argued the battleship is intended to fill capability gaps left by problems with the next-generation destroyer program and by design limits on existing DDGs.
"This will be able to do many things that our DDGs cannot," Reynolds told reporters, comparing the battleship's larger hull and capacity to how the frigate fills a gap relative to DDGs.
What this means for vendors, budget officials, and combatant commanders
- Vendors and shipyards: They are already in early design talks (two vendors named by the Navy) and will need to demonstrate yard capacity to meet the FY28 keel-laying target. Economies of scale, production pacing, and the outcome of the nuclear‑versus‑conventional propulsion decision will directly influence contracts and sequencing.
- Budget and procurement officials: They must reconcile large, front-loaded requests — roughly $1 billion in advance procurement and $837 million in R&D for FY27, then $17 billion in FY28 procurement — with broader service priorities. Phelan cautioned cost estimates will evolve as design choices are finalized.
- Combatant commanders and fleet planners: The Navy and its leadership are pitching the Trump-class as a platform that can carry capabilities not possible on current destroyers; a "Special Mission Ship" was also requested at a combatant command's behest, indicating operational demand for new or specialized platforms.
The Navy has set an ambitious timeline backed by unprecedented shipbuilding and munitions funding, but the program is at an early stage where vendor selection, propulsion choices and detailed designs remain open. The next concrete markers to watch in the Navy’s schedule are FY27 appropriations for R&D and advance procurement and whether the service finalizes a propulsion concept that will materially change the program’s cost and industrial requirements.
