Top Five Weapons Companies Set To Get $140 Billion From Pentagon Next Year

A Sludge analysis estimates that more than half of the fiscal year 2024 Pentagon budget will go to private contractors, with the five largest companies raking in one-sixth of all military spending.

By Stephen Semler, Sludge

House Republicans this week failed to advance a bill to fund the Pentagon in fiscal year 2024, which begins October 1.

Some members of the GOP’s House Freedom Caucus have vowed to oppose advancing the legislation without securing additional cuts to non-military spending. No Democrats support the bill because it includes several conservative provisions, like prohibiting Pentagon funds from being used for certain reproductive health care, including abortion services, for enlisted personnel. It would also defund the Pentagon’s diversity and inclusion programs.

Avoiding scrutiny is the bill’s record $826 billion price tag, despite the historic level of privatization of public funds it portends. A Sludge analysis of military spending and contract data estimates that more than half of the fiscal year 2024 Pentagon budget will go to private contractors, and one-sixth of it to just five companies.

Based on the average share of the military budget obligated to contracts over the last decade, the pending $826 billion bill will likely produce around $450 billion in revenue for military contractors.