U.S. Department of Defense: Fiscal Year Service Medical Readiness Exhibition Activity Budget Estimate

Key Chapter Title List

1. Business Funding Description
2. Financial Summary
3. Explanation of Increases and Decreases Adjustments
4. Performance Standards and Evaluation Summary
5. Personnel Summary
6. OP-32A Line Item Totals
7. Medical Readiness (Army)
8. Medical Readiness (Navy)
9. Medical Readiness (Air Force)
10. Medical Operational Support
11. Medical Facilities and Installation Support
12. Medical Education and Training

Document Introduction

This report is Volume III of the "Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Estimates" released by the U.S. Department of Defense, focusing on the "Service Medical Readiness Exhibits" for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The document systematically presents the global layout of the Defense Health Program in supporting the health of active-duty and retired service members and their families. It provides a detailed breakdown of comparative data for FY 2024 actual expenditures, FY 2025 enacted budget, and FY 2026 requested budget, revealing the investment priorities, structural adjustments, and efficiency optimization pathways within the defense medical readiness domain.

The main body of the report elaborates on the medical readiness budget composition for the Army, Navy, and Air Force separately, organized by service branch. Core funding areas encompass six major sections: Medical Readiness (providing manpower and operational support), Medical Operational Support (integrating automated medical information systems, data systems management), Medical Research and Development (supporting the Army Aeromedical and Environmental Medicine Research Laboratory), Medical Facilities and Installation Support (engineering services, security, veterinary services, pre-hospital care), Medical Acquisition Support (executing contract requirements through the Army Health Contracting Activity), and Medical Education and Training (including programs such as the Health Professions Scholarship Program, officer professional development, and various other initiatives). The Financial Summary section, categorized by budget activities, clearly displays the fund allocation and evolution trends of each section under different budget activities such as "Operating Forces," "Mobilization," "Training and Recruiting," and "Administration and Wide Area Activities."

Through detailed "Explanations of Increases and Decreases Adjustments," the document provides an in-depth analysis of the drivers behind budget changes. For example, the Army section reveals internal personnel and funding adjustments due to the integration of public health requirements, increased medical screener resources to address the implementation of the "Genesis" health system, and reduced travel and contract service expenditures to comply with government efficiency executive orders. The Navy section highlights a structural reorganization involving the large-scale consolidation of medical readiness resources previously dispersed across various budget activities into a single Budget Activity Group for the purpose of unified financial management and auditing. The Air Force section focuses on the impacts of factors such as manpower cost adjustments, enhanced operational support activities, and reductions in overseas operational costs.

Furthermore, the report provides a "Performance Standards and Evaluation Summary" based on quantitative metrics, tracking key readiness indicators for each service branch, including the number of "Medically Deployable" and "Dentally Deployable" personnel, military working dog examination rates, expeditionary bed counts, specimen testing volumes for the Prescription Drug Take-Back Program, and workload for Health Professions Scholarship students. Combined with the changes in the quantity and cost of active-duty military, civilian, and contractor personnel outlined in the "Personnel Summary," and the analysis of price and planned growth for detailed line items such as civilian pay, travel, supplies, and equipment procurement in the "OP-32A Line Items," this document constructs a multi-dimensional evaluation framework. It not only reflects the resource inputs into the defense medical system but also outlines the target contours of its capability outputs and strategic effectiveness.