Each missile the Pentagon buys to commit war crimes abroad could fund critical services at home

Instead of subsidizing war profiteers to kill children and destabilize countries around the world, our government could be delivering real security for our communities.

By Hanna Homestead, National Priorities Project

Our country’s massive weapons budget has directly enabled the U.S.-Israeli led war on Iran that has caused thousands of deaths and is exacerbating the nation’s affordability crisis. Even if the war on Iran ends soon, it will have cost somewhere in the range of $50 billion to $72 billion, or more.

The U.S. weapons and war budget already exceeds $1 trillion, and Trump and his cronies want even more.

Trump’s Pentagon budget request for FY 2027 includes $95 billion to buy more bombs and missiles, and specifically to restock munitions used in the U.S.-Israel war of agression on Iran and those fueling ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Lebanon. The Administration plans to continue to arm Israel, who the Trump National Defense Strategy identifies as “a model ally” that the United States has “an opportunity now to further empower.”

For context, this $95 billion in taxpayer dollars for munitions – if passed – will be 20% more than the U.S. Department of Education’s entire discretionary budget for 2026 ($79 billion). Instead of investing in schools to help them fill the 400,000+ national teacher shortage and address the nation’s plummeting math and reading scores, the Trump Administration and their Republican allies in Congress are investing in missiles to kill more children in billionaire-backed foreign wars.

Key munitions slated for increased production under this proposal include:

• Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), a new type of short-range ballistic missile. The United States used PRSM in combat for the first time in its most recent illegal attack on Iran (Operation Epic Fury), launching them from U.S. bases in neighboring Middle East countries.

• Tomahawk Guided Cruise Missiles, which are being launched at Iran from Navy warships and submarines stationed in the Persian Gulf, more than 7,000 miles away from the U.S. mainland. An American Tomahawk missile was most likely used to target a girls’ elementary school in Iran in March, killing 170 people – almost all children under the age of twelve. This criminal attack is one of many that has killed thousands of Iranian civilians.

• Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system missiles, which use advanced radars to track and intercept incoming ballistic missiles. After attacking Iran, the U.S. utilized THAAD and Patriot interceptor missiles to block Iran’s retaliatory strikes bound for Israel and regional U.S. bases and warships the U.S. had used to launch their attack. The enormous price tag of THAAD interceptors – $15.5 million per missile – contributed to the high cost of U.S. munitions expenditure, estimated to exceed $11 billion dollars in the early weeks of the war. Had the U.S. and Israel not initiated a war with Iran, there would be no need to use or replace these costly missile systems, which taxpayers are now being asked to pay for at the expense of basic needs.

Each of the missiles the Department of War wants to produce cost millions – sometimes tens of millions – of taxpayer dollars. And they want to build thousands more. Pentagon contractors, who are already cashing in on the carnage, are set to rake in even higher profits if this budget is approved.

To break down the enormity of these per-unit costs, below are examples of social programs we could have for the price of a single missile, sourced from the National Priorities Project’s trade-off calculator.

Munitions vs. Human Needs Trade-Offs: