Defense contracting transparency
Where money moves through U.S. defense — federal spending (Department of Defense), the top prime contractors by dollars received, lobbying, congressional trades in defense stocks, and the revolving door. Coverage-honest: figures we don't have yet show "—"; the contractor list is a curated set of major primes, not every DoD vendor.
Defense is the largest slice of discretionary federal spending — money Congress appropriates each year for the military and the contractors it buys from. Learn more →
Federal defense spending over time
Department of Defense agency outlays and the National Defense budget function, by fiscal year (USAspending). Gross by-function figures differ from Treasury net totals.
| FY | Department of Defense | National Defense |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $1,014,206,206,108 | $931,355,381,711 |
| 2018 | $1,092,438,524,753 | $995,628,286,613 |
| 2019 | $1,154,860,031,200 | $1,060,561,779,405 |
| 2020 | $1,130,135,336,028 | $1,098,916,637,102 |
| 2021 | $1,146,962,263,261 | $1,117,832,172,120 |
| 2022 | $1,189,944,864,055 | $1,160,975,500,606 |
| 2023 | $1,330,544,104,855 | $1,297,012,666,574 |
| 2024 | $1,393,415,222,232 | $1,358,253,371,219 |
| 2025 | $1,451,320,548,890 | $1,416,433,029,076 |
Federal spending from USAspending (agency & budget function). Fuller breakdowns on the funding page.
Top defense prime contractors — FY2025
The major U.S. defense primes ranked by federal money received in 2025 (USAspending recipient totals, national place-of-performance). This is a curated set of top primes matched by name — not every DoD vendor — so it undercounts total contracting. A contractor's federal total includes non-defense agency work. Data from USAspending
| # | Contractor | Federal $ received | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION Lockheed Martin | $34,094,675,624 |